REPORT ON THE STATUS OF PROGRESS TOWARD THE LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY OF SPACE ACTIVITIES

摘要

As space activities continue to play an ever growing role in international interactions, States have begun to recognize the need to ensure their long-term sustainability. For this to happen, the essentials of space sustainability issues for established and emerging space players must be well understood. Raising the profile of space sustainability issues in the international community and at the national level is crucial to achieving the long-term sustainability of space activities and ensuring the continued maintenance of the Earthly benefits these activities provide.Space sustainability of the global commons of outer space is a fundamentally international question with profound national implications. Consequently, a few members of the International Astronautical Federation Space Security Committee have begun an exercise to assess the current state of efforts to maintain space sustainability. They have also identified several key technical, organizational, and political challenges to achieving the long-term sustainability of outer space activities.This paper summarizes those efforts and lays the groundwork for future assessments of progress along these lines. It is not meant to supplement the much more comprehensive treatment of space security by the Space Security Index (SSI). [1] On the contrary, it is intended to provide material for leading into the next SSI yearly assessment.