Representing a major challenge for the space community in the near future, the issue of space debris wasdiscussed in the 2011 Space Generation Congress' (SGC) Industry Session in order to collect the youth's perspectiveon this pressing topic. The work described in the abstract below is a follow-up on these discussions.Following the growing consensus on the necessity of Active Debris Removal (ADR), various suggestions havebeen made on policy and organizational implementations for ADR. Among the proposals, there is a distinctionbetween unilateral options, arguing for independent initiatives from single nations, and truly international approachesoften including international treaties. The former approach allows for the advantage of evading difficult legal issuesthat would need to be treated in an international environment, possibly leading to a comparatively earlier start ofADR operations. Alternatively, an international approach would ensure shared burdens, maximized transparency andpotentially more funds, making it a desirable long-term solution. This paper aims at analyzing and promoting afeasible approach in between the two extremes, combining advantages of both. The suggested framework revolvesaround a limited number of willing governments or space agencies that cooperate on a voluntary basis such as that ofthe Inter-Agency Debris Coordination Committee. Acknowledging the potential efficiency of a commercial market,debris objects on the registry of cooperating States would be removed by commercial providers utilizing financesfrom a shared fund. Motivation to contribute would be partly drawn from the general interest to maintain spacesafety, partly from voting weights on objects to be removed, and also from return flow of financial investments tocontributors via geographical return. The foreseeable limitation to a relatively small number of willing contributorswould elude many legal challenges associated with international approaches, such as the currently ambiguous legaldefinition of space debris. Furthermore, time-consuming international consensus-reaching processes would bereplaced by discussions in a smaller forum, while greater transparency would be maintained. Assuming that the firstStates to join such an effort would be the current "big players" in space, this approach also takes into account the roleof emerging space actors in ADR operations. Through the creation of a platform for commercial ADR technologydemonstrations, such an approach could help to quickly take the next step on a technological level; marking a quickdiplomatic success and an organizational step, it could also serve as a catalyst for international cooperation forfurther ADR operations.
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