Orbital Debris Questions Unanswered

摘要

The projected increase in the launch of small satellites, particularly cubesats, has raised new concerns about the growth of orbital debris, despite statements by ventures developing such satellites that they will be responsible citizens in low Earth orbit. "There's been a lot of concern the last couple of years about small satellites and their proliferation. There are those in the industry who derisively refer to cubesats as 'debris sats,'" said Ted Muelhaupt, one of several Aerospace Corp. officials who discussed the issue during a session of the Small Payload Rideshare Symposium at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory here June 10. "There's some justification for that."