Protecting Space Environment Remains a Critical U.S. Interest
New challenges will require new approaches

By Merle D. Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington -- As outer space becomes increasingly vital to economic prosperity and international security, there is a growing need for finding new ways to deal with debris caused by rocket explosions and anti-satellite testing of past decades.

"It's worth noting that civil society has provided a range of options for new approaches for international cooperation in spaceflight safety," says Garold Larson, U.S. deputy permanent representative to the
Conference on Disarmament, in remarks prepared for delivery April 1 to a U.N.-sponsored meeting in Geneva.  Larson pointed out that the United States and Western European countries have been working since the 1980s on these issues and the discussions expanded to include Japan and Russia. 

"The United States and Europe have been leading supporters of international cooperation to preserve the space environment for future generations," he said.  As a consequence of discussions during the 1980s and 1990s, the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) was formed in 1993 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the European Space Agency and the civil space agencies of Russia and Japan.

Today, the IADC, which includes nine national space agencies as well as ESA, has developed guidelines for protecting the space environment from artificial debris, he said.  This early work led to guidelines that were
endorsed in 2007 by the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space as part of "best practices" for safe space operations.

The United States and others have been working together to establish an informal working group of public and private experts to explore the long-term sustainability of space activities on security in space, Larson said in his prepared remarks.

Larson also said there is increasing interest in finding new ways to prevent space vehicles from colliding with one another and in finding improved responses to intentional interference with satellites.

Because these and other related space issues are complex, deliberations may be lengthy.  "As a result, it is important that they not become distorted by parochial political agendas or unnecessarily duplicated by
competing discussions in other venues," Larson said.

Keeping communications open among nations and continuing efforts at building confidence will be increasingly important in dealing with future space incidents, he said.  "Specific measures could include regular exchanges between senior space commanders and their staffs as well as launch and satellite operations officers," he said.

Larson also stressed that the United States continues to believe strongly in the peaceful uses of space, but also believes a country's defense and intelligence-related activities fall within current international laws and treaties.

"The most important of the mutually shared principles elaborated in those treaties is support for the free access to, and use of, outer space by all nations for peaceful purposes," he said.  And at the same time, the United States is determined to keep sufficient flexibility to protect its national security interests, he said.

"This principle was first advanced by President Eisenhower in the late 1950s and formed the basis for key precepts of the [1967] Outer Space Treaty.  The commitment to peaceful use and benefit for all is embedded
firmly in the United States National Space Policy signed by President George W. Bush on August 31, 2006," Larson said.

The United States, Larson said, recognizes that some emerging challenges to space security may require new forms of international cooperation with allies, friends and other spacefaring nations.

The full text ( http://geneva.usmission.gov/CD/updates/0401Larson.html ) of Larson's remarks, as prepared for delivery, is available on the U.S. Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament Web site.