Space safety

Abstract

Space safety is necessary for the sustainable development of space. Space safety practices are now important in a host of different ways for space commerce, applications, science, and exploration. Space safety plays a critical role in minimizing hazards for human spaceflight.It allows for the protection of space infrastructure from orbital debris as we increasingly move from space debris minimization to active mitigation processes. Space safety is now focused to the key role of protecting the Earth’s population from reentering objects as well as protecting space assets.This chapter addresses all these aspects and more.This chapter introduces the many facets of safety that are being addressed by spacefaring nations around the world. Without improved space safety practices and standards, billions of dollars(Us)of space assets, many astronaut lives, and even people here on Earth could all be increasingly in peril.Thus this chapter assesses a wide range of space safetyrisks.These risks include the different flight phases, from launch, to on-orbitoperations, to reentry along with the important concept of Space Traffic Management.A rangeof human spaceflight safety considerations are also described.The chapter thus provides a broad overview of the field of space safety and its developments.