Space Debris Subcommittee   2025 Jan 7

Present  - Sam, Jonathan, Roohi, Aparna, Connie, Joshua, Pat, Aaron, Carter Brown

Jonathan reviewed the previous meeting and discussed the AAS presentations.
He circulated a document from SpaceX with some additional Starlink details. (attached).
We then discussed possible topics for 2025.

** General topics and outreach:

One topic we raised last time is some kind of open letter on difficulties
with Space Force slow cataloging of objects. Roohi wants to tie in the issues
of prohibitions on Rubin re publishing observational data on satellites.
Jonathan noted that he thinks we can argue on that point for high orbit satellites
but not for low ones where DoD/NRO have strong concerns.

Connie noted (1) the advent of bigger and more satellites including ones with
novel purpose like solar power transmission and (2) Kessler effect as two
areas to focus on.

Sam thinks we need to emphasize directly talking to the public.
Consumer pressure will be important in the possible absence of regulation going forward.
Kessler is the big scary thing,  can we do something that will capture public imagination
like a doomsday clock?

Aaron and Pat commented that (per AIAA papers)
Kessler is linear for now so hard to capture the public's imagination. We need to
talk about the 'Aaron Valdez in space' moment  - a big impulsive event like the
K2251/Iridium collision. If the ISS - or even the Chinese station - were to fragment,
that would be such a Valdez event.

Roohi - There is a strong need for meetings with Hill folks, congressional visits.
She can help set them up for those willing.

** Office of Space Commerce:

Josh urged us to establish an active dialog with the Office of Space Commerce (OSC).
Roohi noted that OSC has been asking top-level AAS to engage more, and
perhaps we can make this group an active point of contact. Roohi will try
to set up a meet with Jonathan and OSC at the AAS.
On the SWIFT-SAT proposal, Connie noted CPS has been working with Aerospace
with access to outputs from the OSC Space-Tracss system.
Aaron encourages an open letter to OSC but targeted to a broader audience,
expressing issues with capacity to track what is going on etc.
 
Pat emphasized that it is critical that the OSC system provide everything
space-track gives those with academic access today , including for historical research, for debris event warnings, etc.


** Observing reentry effects:

Roohi and Ross had a meeting with Kuiper - they might
be willing to do a controlled reentry for observations.
What would we like to learn from a controlled reentry?
Perhaps we should have a proposal on this ready to go.


Thanks again to Sam for providing the zoom link.

Next meeting:
Mon 3 Feb at  2pm EST / 11am PST / 1900 UTC
https://uregina-ca.zoom.us/j/94986779080

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