Abstract for: The Issue of Space Debris: Preventing Tragedy in Low Earth Orbit

Space debris is a very recent cause for yet another environmental tragedy. Although it was predicted to happen before (Kessler & Burton, 1978), there has not been enough attention paid to the growing risk of losing a trillion-dollar global infrastructure right above our heads. Although there are some tests are being conducted in capturing debris and reducing the large debris population (ESA, 2019). Space situational awareness is yet to be of a significant aspect in the agenda of spacefaring countries. Plans to place tens of thousands of satellite constellations (Grush, 2018) are now making it even harder to deal with the problem. This model has attempted to exhibit the extent of this problem over the years and potential scenarios that it might reach in the upcoming decades. There are promising solutions to balance the cascading reinforcing loops and to address the problem. However, solutions also need to be inter-related and extremely integrated just like this problem behaviour. Future work can be conducted with a much-detailed orbital mechanical model structure as well as with additional business and legal-political cycles in place.