Effects of Debris Mitigation Measures on Environment Projections

Chapter 5 outlined the consequences of continuing space activities in a businessas-usual fashion, with the conclusion that a timely change of operational practices is required in order to maintain a stable space debris environment, which will permit safe space operations in the long-term future. The main driver for future debris proliferation was found to be the on-orbit mass reservoir, predominantly of LEO objects beyond 100 kg, and potential large-size colliders (mission-related, or due to on-orbit explosions), capable of producing catastrophic break-ups. These break-ups may lead to enhanced feedback collisions and to the onset of a selfsustained runaway situation due to collisional cascading. In the current chapter debris mitigation measures will be identified that can effectively tackle the main causes of an uncontrolled population growth.