Study on the Legal Regime for Space Debris Mitigation — Taking the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines as an Example

Abstract

As human space activities continue, the problem of space debris which is regarded as the “killer of satellites, spacecraft, and space shuttles”, remains unresolved. 2021 saw the release of the latest version of the IADC Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines (hereinafter referred to as the IADC Guidelines), the only remediation program to date that has had a significant positive impact on addressing the accumulation of space debris. The IADC Guidelines complement the body of outer space law in the area of space debris and provide a good model for addressing the issue of space debris mitigation. The present paper proposes a path for the future development of the IADC Guidelines to contribute to the improvement of the legal regime for space debris mitigation.