The Orbital Sustainability (ORBITS) Act

In September, the Orbital Sustainability (ORBITS) Act was introduced as a bill to jumpstart the technologies needed to mitigate space debris.

Notably, the bill says:

(c) Authorization Of Appropriations.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this section $150,000,000 for fiscal years 2023 through 2027.

(1) LIST.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary, the Secretary of Defense, the National Space Council, and representatives of the commercial space industry, academia, and nonprofit organizations, shall publish a list of identified orbital debris that pose the greatest immediate risk to the safety and sustainability of orbiting satellites and on-orbit activities.

(3) FORM; PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The list required under paragraph (1) shall be—

(B) made available to the public on the internet website of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and

Source:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4814/text

(Be sure to follow and advocate for this bill if you are interested!)

More:

• Formal acknowledgements from the industry, including the Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS)¹ and Astroscale U.S.²
• CONFERS members include Airbus, Astroscale, Ball Aerospace, L3Harris, Redwire, Maxar, Orbit Fab, Scout, SpaceLogistics (Northrop Grumman's subsidiary), and many more!³

¹  https://www.satelliteconfers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/CONFERS-Statement-on-the-Orbital-Sustainability-Act-of-2022-ORBITS-Act.pdf

²

Statement from Astroscale U.S. on the Orbital Sustainability Act of 2022 (ORBITS Act) - Astroscale U.S.

Astroscale U.S. applauds the release of the Orbital Sustainability Act of 2022 (ORBITS Act). It’s fitting that the bill was introduced yesterday on the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s “We Choose the Moon” speech, which championed U.S. innovation and the relentless pursuit of advanced…

Astroscale U.S.By: Astroscale U.S.

³ https://www.satelliteconfers.org/members/

Zoom out:

• The possibility of Kessler syndrome was discussed within the space community for years (i.e. all our space assets could be at risk which could impact GPS, credit card payments, etc on Earth)
• Privateer, a space corporation, says "27,000+ pieces of human-made objects are currently being tracked as they orbit the Earth, but that number only includes objects larger than a softball. The actual quantity of space debris 1mm+ is estimated to be closer to 100 million." ⁴
• Privateer, co-founded by Dr. Moriba Jah, Steve Wozniak (Apple's co-founder), also has illustrated the space debris problem via its company website's dashboard⁵, based on Dr. Morbia Jah's research in UT Austin. Take a peek!
• It's general practice to leave behind upper stages⁶ after space launches
• Anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) has generated a huge number of debris in recent years with Chinese⁷ and Russian⁸ testing.
• 2009 Iridium-Cosmos Collision⁹ has illustrated the risk of leaving space debris behind.

⁴  https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html

⁵ https://www.privateer.com/

⁶ https://spacenews.com/upper-stages-top-list-of-most-dangerous-space-debris/

⁷ https://swfound.org/media/9550/chinese_asat_fact_sheet_updated_2012.pdf

⁸ https://spacenews.com/russia-destroys-satellite-in-asat-test/

⁹https://swfound.org/media/6575/swf_iridium_cosmos_collision_fact_sheet_updated_2012.pdf