MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. The number of orbital objects exceeding 1 centimeter in diameter will grow by 1.5 times within the next six or seven years, endangering guaranteed access to space, the press-service of Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos has told TASS.
"Currently, more than 1 million space objects measuring more than 1 centimeter can be found in near-earth orbits. Their number will grow by 1.5 times by 2030. This creates a real threat for guaranteed access to space, including delivering spacecraft to the orbit and their normal functioning," the state corporation said.
According to Roscosmos, this situation brings into the spotlight issues related to the safety of space operations, as well as the need to draft "space traffic rules" and to improve surveillance of the near-earth zones of space.
"The situation in the near-earth space has changed significantly over the past years. This is due to a significant growth in scope and diversity of missions to the near-earth space, as well as due to the explosive growth in the number of man-made space objects in space zones that are used more widely," the press service added.
It attributed the trend to various projects of creating multi-satellite constellations that produce "vast amounts of space junk."
Roscosmos Executive Director for Long-Term Programs and Science Alexander Bloshenko said during his visit to South Africa that international rules for launching and maintaining orbital satellites may be drafted in around five years. In his words, near-earth orbits have limited capacities and their ‘congestion’ will lead to dangerous situations in the future.