Pollution Effects and Management of Orbital Space Debris

Abstract

In recent years, spacecraft launches have increased significantly, leading to an increased risk of orbital space debris (OSD) collision, translating into further growth in OSD. With the recent space legislation reducing satellites’ end of life period in orbit from 25 to 5 years and with the current OSD amounting currently to nearly 130 million pieces, there emerges the imperative need to reduce and manage OSD significantly. Even without the potential future launches, tracked OSD by itself is alarming and requires intervention and abrupt mitigation. This Review highlights the type of pollutants, including spacecraft combustion pollution due to re-entry to earth and emissions from spacecraft thrusters that lead to global warming and ozone layer depletion, mitigation technologies and pollution prevention methods to reduce OSD, spacecraft shield enhancement, and use of green fuel alternatives to launch spacecrafts with negligible air pollutant emissions.