Thus far this week (see here , here, and here), I have surveyed the newly-published space polices of Department of Defense and the U.S. Space Force, as well as a third report from the RAND Corporation, all of which call for the U.S. military to procure some of the services and systems they need for their outer space operations from private commercial providers. In addition, I also identified a blind spot in all three reports: they omit any discussion of the problem of space debris resulting from greater satellite congestion in outer space, especially in Low Earth Orbit. Lastly, I suggested a different approach (an approach that I am further developing with my colleague and friend Justin Evans) to this “tragedy of the outer space commons”: markets and property rights, i.e. space auctions. Simply put, domestic agencies like the FCC and international ones like the ITU should assign property rights in orbits and allow those rights to be freely traded.

Before taking a deeper dive into our market-based solution to this new tragedy of the commons, however, I should mention that many other solutions to the problem of space debris have been proposed. Broadly speaking, these proposals fall into one of two categories: regulation or innovation, i.e. one group of proposed solutions is purely legalistic or regulatory in nature, while the other is technical or technological.

For an example of the technical approach, see this 2009 paper in Space Review proposing the use of lasers and other “energy systems” to eliminate orbital debris from outer space (Taylor Dinerman, “Unilateral orbital cleanup“, Space Review, May 4, 2009), or this 2011 thesis calling for the development of a “satellite recycling system” that could be used to repair inoperable satellites and even retrieve particles of space junk (Major Patrick V. Long, “Space Junk Norms: US Advantages in Creating a Debris-Reducing Outer Space Norm“, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, Thesis, May 2011).

By contrast, for some examples of the regulatory or legalistic approach, check out this 2014 paper by Nodir Adilov, Peter J. Alexander, and Brendan M. Cunningham calling for a new Pigovian tax on space launches as well as this 2003 law review article by Robert Bird and this 2013 comment by Gabrielle Hollingsworth calling for a new international agreement or a modification of existing outer space treaties.

Starting next week, I will survey both of these competing groups of proposed solutions to the problem of space junk (i.e. regulatory solutions versus technical ones) and explain where both fall short.