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White House Issues Strategies To Combat Growing Orbital Debris Risks (wsj.com)
White House space officials have explicitly ruled out international treaties to combat hazards from orbital debris, even as they roll out strategies to revamp U.S. responses to the growing problem. From a report: President Donald Trump on Monday signed a directive formally establishing the Department of Commerce as the lead agency in providing collision-risk data to commercial satellite operators. The order, as expected, also calls for stepped-up efforts to develop voluntary industry standards covering satellite construction, orbit locations, and de-orbit plans -- all intended to reduce collision risks posed by aging satellites and thousands of pieces of debris circling the earth. Mr. Trump said the changes, among others he is championing, aim to ensure that "America will always be first in space" in both military and commercial arenas. The Pentagon will continue to maintain the central catalog of orbiting spacecraft and debris posing potential hazards to U.S. government and private satellites. But commerce department officials will have the authority to pass on that information to the industry, combined with data gathered from private or foreign government sources. Further reading: President Trump Directs Pentagon To Create New 'Space Force' Military Branch.
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And right there you have ANOTHER mission for the new "Space Force". I had previously suggested that the "Space Force" should be structured like the Coast Guard; in that role, preventing or removing "hazards to navigation" would be right in their wheelhouse. SAR. Maintenance of navigational beacons. Removing - harvesting, more likely - junk or derelict satellites.
It is uncomfortable for me that a U.S. president is said to do things that are developed, communicated, and recommended by agencies and staff.
I think credit should be given in detail to everyone who was involved.
Only when things go well. When things go poorly, the underlings are the first to fall on their sword under a bus.
Any war in orbit leads to more deadly space junk, ending humanity's road to space.
Space wars can destroy whole continents with one asteroid, and end life on earth.
You're replying to a headline and article that credits the White House, not the President.
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Space mining will arrive as soon as they are done with creating AI and autonomous driving.
I'm all for giving people credit for their work. In my daily work, I advise, mentor, coach, and team-up with others whenever possible. During our daily scrum, when we report what has been completed, I make it a point to say "Al did this really cool thing." I do not mention "Al did this really cool thing exactly the way I told him to" :) I hand out credit and congratulations, and deflect when they object with "but Ray you're the one who designed it", because part of my leadership style is to give out recognition rather than seek out recognition.
Having said that ...
The summary says "the President signed ...", and that is in fact the news. That Bob Jones, an intern in Boston, suggested something isn't news. When it becomes national policy by the President signing it, that's news.
Also, if the president chooses a bad leader him, choosing an art major with no relevant experience as Chief Security Officer, whose fault is it when the organization gets hacked big time? If a company president sets up a compensation structure that rewards opening accounts, and creates a corporate culture where being sneaky and underhanded is the norm, whose fault is it when low-level employees do sneaky, underhanded things to get new accounts open? Sure, the low-level employees are responsible for their own personal behavior, but the leader is responsible for what's going on throughout the organization, policies and widespread practices. I hold them responsible for bad or for good, when it comes to the broad policies.
Somebody suggested that policy, someone else probably suggested the opposite, or something totally different, and the leader chose and set the policy.
Does that mean the leader shouldn't point out where the idea came from? In a positive way, I think they should. I try to. And whatever policies Trump selects and puts into force, I'll hold him responsible for - credit or blame.
This is actually not a terrible point in that it would demonstrate being able to deorbit materials in a cost-effective manner, but I think you would burn too much fuel matching different inclinations to collect many satellites. Also I think overall the composition of satellites would be disappointingly low on valuable minerals.
It's not violating any treaties. The move is actually more of a reorganization than creating something new - isolating the space-related units from other forces and consolidating them.
And as for "has anything to do with it" - do you think Obama invented Obamacare?
Projects like this lie in desk drawers for decades, and get presented to any president that happens along. The one who decides to give the project a go-ahead gets to claim the credit.
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