United Nations Coordination of Outer Space Activities

The Space Environment

Since the launch of the first satellite and the beginning of the Space Age, in 1957, we have
discovered that space, as well as the Earth, can be affected by environmental problems.

Space debris

What is space debris?
Space debris is anything people have put into Earth orbit and no longer serves a purpose. This includes entire satellites that no longer function, sections of rockets that have been discarded, parts of satellites that have exploded, gloves and other items dropped by space explorers and, most numerous, tiny particles like paint chips and even liquid droplets of potassium and sodium.

What is the environmental problem?
Space debris orbits the Earth at incredibly high speeds, normally several kilometres per second, making even small particles a hazard to space explorers and active satellites.

Are small or large particles more dangerous?
Large particles obviously cause more damage when they hit something - an entire, defunct satellite would almost certainly destroy a satellite or kill a space explorer on impact. But small particles are much more numerous, are nearly impossible to track because of their size, and can still cause quite a lot of damage.

The United Nations recently started a new work plan on space debris. The work plan may lead to the United Nations’ adoption of international voluntary standards to reduce the amount of space debris created.

Protecting astronomy

Astronomy is mainly an observational science, but our ability to observe the Universe is increasingly impeded by interference from light sources (like city lights) as well as radio waves, in particular from mobile phones and other communications devices.

The ITU’s Radio Regulations attempt to address this problem by reserving a part of the electromagnetic spectrum exclusively for radio astronomy.