AMP

Nobody owns the orbit everyone depends on

Lena Marsh ·

Orbital slots are allocated nationally while the consequences of crowding them are global. That mismatch is the whole problem.

A shared cost, private benefit

Each new constellation is individually rational and collectively expensive. A single fragmentation event raises the risk for every operator, including ones that never launched anything.

Disposal is the weak link

End-of-life deorbiting is improving but remains voluntary in practice, and the satellites already up there were not designed with it in mind.

View full article