“It is cheaper to just add debris than to be a good space citizen”

As we rush towards launching thousands of new satellites into space, the problem is no longer ‘up there’ or ‘far away’ but ‘right here, says Elaine Petro, Assistant Professor, Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University. She is also the director of ASTRAlab (Advanced Space Transit and Architectures lab).

By Pratima Harigunani

Her many other areas of interest and expertise range across subjects like water plasma propulsion, electrospray thruster technology for small satellite platforms, MAVEN Mars Orbiter, James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope missions at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Elaine Petro’s favorite science movies are ‘Don’t Look Up’ and ‘The Martian’.

Speaking to Voice & Data, in a frank and incisive interview, she helps us deconstruct the fear and fog around the big-but-invisible beast called – Space Debris.

Voice & Data: How serious is the problem of Space Debris? Should we be talking of it with urgency in 2022?

Elaine Petro: It is a serious issue. It is like Climate Change in many ways. It is a problem that has evolved and got worse slowly - but is loaded with a lot of risks that are now manifesting themselves. It is urgent because every satellite we launch is a potential alarm bell. There are two parts to this problem- there is already a lot of debris up there and to add to that, there is a huge potential today to create more debris as space exploration and launches gather steam. What happens when these satellites and rockets lose functionality? How to avert collisions and damage? These are urgent questions for sure.

Celestial landfill or Space-Debris, in short, is a growing problem and in the absence of any agreed global best practices is only becoming a bigger monster daily.

Voice & Data: How much of an answer can technology be here? Like the wooden satellites being researched in Japan? Or recycling initiatives? Would such ideas help?

Elaine Petro: These are interesting ideas but a lot depends on the performance aspect. Also, it is a lot better to work with solutions already out there without adding burdens on Earth’s resources. Use of recycled plastic or space material or 3D printing or use of material from lunar surfaces can be good in that sense.

Voice & Data: There is something interesting in progress at ASTRAlab too. Can you share something about sustainable space exploration architecture?

Our idea is to move away from the rigid concept that ‘every satellite can be used only once. Why should it be limited to doing just one job? We can build satellites for many orbits and many purposes. We can innovate on this flexibility. For this, areas like constant refueling and the use of self-service propellants need major innovation. Especially in the efficiency part of a propellant system, and its storage so that it does not have to be loaded into a space-craft. We can also explore using the upper body or rocket parts for something functional instead of letting them lie like debris up there.

Voice & Data: With so many breakthroughs happening in material science, Bioinformatics, and AI - how far are we from self-healing systems for space?

Elaine Petro: We still have some roads to cover here. It is an innovation in progress. The focus should be on making parts that have a longer lifetime. That will help to pre-empt a lot of space debris issues in an easy way.

Voice & Data: Any other ideas or measures that you find encouragement for controlling space debris or anything that you can suggest?

Elaine Petro: One effort, which is just a first step and a baby step, but still in the right direction is the regulatory attention on de-orbiting. If a spacecraft is mandated to de-orbit on its own after 25 years, go to a graveyard orbit, or burn up in the atmosphere – that can help a lot. However, 25 years is still a lot of time dotted with potential collisions and risks. And different countries have different regulations.

One effort, which is just a first step and a baby step, but still in the right direction is the regulatory attention on de-orbiting. If a spacecraft is mandated to de-orbit on its own after 25 years, go to a graveyard orbit or burn up in atmosphere – that can help a lot.

Voice & Data: Is this a technology problem or a geo-political one or the good-old ‘we will fix the bridge when it comes/until shit hits the fan’ version of the human-laziness problem?

Elaine Petro: That’s something even I think of often. You cannot look at a bunch of businesses alone to fix this. It is cheaper for a business to add debris than to be a good space citizen – let’s face it. This is more like a Problem of the Commons. It affects us all. No one individual entity or country can be held responsible for this. So maybe geopolitical factors and regulations will have a role to play in fighting this challenge.

Petro is Assistant Professor, Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University

pratimah@cybermedia.co.in