The RAND Corporation’s Space Enterprise Initiative has published a new report that discusses responsible space behavior, key problems and some potential solutions.
The 50 page RAND report “Responsible Space Behavior for the New Space Era” provides an overview of responsible space behavior, current behavior, key problems, barriers to action and potential solutions.
The authors include Bruce McClintock, Katie Feistel, Douglas C. Ligor, and Kathryn O’Connor.
They preface the report by stating that “to prepare this paper, we examined relevant literature, including United Nations (UN) voting records, proposals, government statements, treaties, agreements, and various histories and analyses of the evolution of space treaties, agreements, and norms; organized and conducted a series of RAND Corporation–hosted international responsible behavior workshops; participated in multiple external workshops and events as speakers, moderators, and observers; and conducted multiple informal interviews and discussions with government officials, industry executives, space policy experts, academics, and members of the space observer hobbyist community. After gathering extensive input on views of the situation, barriers to progress, and options for solutions, we studied a list of candidate solutions to determine the areas that are most likely to be achievable in the near term (i.e., in the next five to ten years). Our research is only a first step, but it is an important, impartial perspective on the situation, and it is designed to advance the discussion and progress while also identifying the most-pressing areas for further work.”
The five key problem areas and the barriers to action
RAND has identified “five key problem areas that responsible space behavior should address to prevent a tragedy-of-the-commons scenario for space.”
- SSA and space traffic management (STM)
- Debris mitigation
- ASAT testing
- Rendezvous and proximity operations (RPOs)
- Conflation of safety and security.
Along with the key problems areas they’ve also identified two barriers to action including motivations and interests and lack of a rule-of-law framework.
Possible solutions
In their solutions section the authors present “key themes that should help guide leaders and policymakers toward tangible norms for responsible space behavior. In some cases, we offer specific examples of areas for initial steps, when these steps are relatively obvious and seem likely to produce quick wins. Our preliminary analysis suggests that leaders should focus on paths to space norms that;”
- Increase communication and engagement;
- Increase transparency for all;
- Begin with quickly achievable demonstrations of progress and accountability (quick wins)
- Concentrate on safety before including security considerations and;
- Progress toward security agreements.