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     Spacecraft autonomy is very important because, as autonomous space flight algorithms rapidly evolve, uncrewed systems may be tasked with carrying out surveillance missions, strengthening or expanding communications networks, or even firing weapons on their own or under the control of ground-based operators acting in a command-and-control capacity.
     For the time being, the real purpose of the X-37B is unclear. However, the Space Force’s stated goal is to “enhance the way U.S. forces fight and to provide decision-makers with additional military options. This means organizing, training, and equipping service members to successfully conduct global space operations.”
     Officially, the X-37B is an experimental reusable autonomous spaceplane. In the future, it could play a variety of roles for the U.S. Space Force. This has resulted in various people outside of the program to speculate wildly about the capabilities and ultimate purpose of the craft.
     Tom Burhardt predicted in Space Daily in May of 2010 that the X-37B may be used as a spy satellite or a weapon delivery vehicle. Following that prediction, the Pentagon rejected reports that the test flights of the X-37B assisted in the creation of space-based weaponry.
     There were allegations in 2012 that the X-37B was being utilized to spy on China’s Tiangogn-1 space station module. Later, former U.S. Air Force orbital analyst Brian Weeden disputed this assertion. He pointed out that the spacecraft’s orbits prevented any useful surveillance flybys. According to a 2014 article in The Guardian, security specialists claimed that the X-37B was being used “to test surveillance and spy instruments, notably how they hold up against radiation and other perils of orbit.” Other reports speculate that the X037B is being used by the U.S. Air Force to test a Hall-effect propulsion system for the Aerojet Rocketdyne company.
     When an X-37B is flying in an elliptic orbit, it could, at perigee, use the thin atmosphere to make and orbit change. This would prevent some observers from discovering the new orbit for a while. In theory, this could allow secret activities. This was reported by former U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson in 2019.
     Notification of any satellites launched from the X-37B has not been given to the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs as required by the Registration Convention. Therefore, other parties to the convention would not be aware of them. This was reported by astronomer Jonathan McDowell who is the editor of Jonathan’s Space Report.
     The X-37B program is as tantalizing in its nature as it is frustrating not to understand its exact purpose. It can be argued that it is a positive step in the direction of returning to experimentation with methods for getting humans, satellites and research into space using reusable spacecraft. Whether or not the spacecraft will be further militarized remains to be seen. However, any spin-off technologies used to better human existence on Earth will be a nice bonus.
      Although there are international treaties that prohibit putting weapons in Earth orbit, realistically, it is only a matter of time.

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     These specifications are taken from official numbers and other figures that are publicly available.
• Length: 29 feet 3 inches
• Wingspan: 14 feet 11 inches
• Height: 9 feet 6 inches
• Payload bay: 7 feet × 4 feet
• Payload capacity: 500 pounds
• Max launch weight: 11,000 pounds
• Crew: None/Autonomous
• Electrical power: Gallium arsenide solar cells with lithium-ion batteries
• Launch vehicles: United Launch Alliance Atlas V and SpaceX Falcon 9
• Orbital speed: 17,426 miles per hour
• Orbit: Low Earth orbit
     The X-37B has flown six missions. However, its true purpose has not been revealed to the public. The Space Force’s latest Orbital Test Vehicle drone has raised suspicion both at home and abroad with regard to its actual purpose. There has been speculation that it may be a space-based anti-satellite strike aircraft. Or it could be used for high-altitude surveillance and the deployment of spy satellites. Perhaps it could be used to track enemy weapons or missiles launches.
     According to the Pentagon, the X-37B was recently fitted with a new service module. This new module allows for a great number of experiments to be carried to orbit. During a mission in 2020, the X-37B deployed a small satellite called FalconSt-8. This satellite contained five experimental payloads designed by NASA and the U.S. Air Force. This was the first time that the U.S. military disclosed any specifics about payloads.
     An Air Force report revealed that the program is testing advanced guidance, navigation, and control, avionics, thermal protection systems, conformal reusable insulation, lightweight electromechanical flight systems, advanced propulsion systems, advanced materials, and autonomous orbital flight, reentry, and landing technologies.
     The Air Force’s list of stated technologies being tested raises many intriguing and important issues. Many of these have to do with the capability of carrying out activities at extremely high speeds and high temperatures. In 2019, former Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told a panel at the Aspen Security Forum that the X-37B may be able to fly low enough to make use of the Earth’s atmosphere to alter its orbit. Such maneuvers may be designed to prevent enemies from predicting exactly how the craft will move.
     The ability to maintain a steady flight trajectory for space traveling weapons such as intercontinental ballistic missiles or hypersonic missiles also makes thermal protection critical for space flight in several fundamental ways.
     In order for humans to travel in space, they must have thermal protection technology. It is possible that some time in the future, human, armed, high-speed spacecraft could launch attacks from beyond the atmosphere of the Earth.
     These materials are already undergoing rapid development because they are essential for the operational deployment of hypersonic weapons. They are required to ensure that the structural configurations required to produce the right air flow boundary layer surrounding missiles, interceptors, or spacecraft, in addition to maintain the stability of flight at hypersonic speed.
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     The X-37B is the first spaceplane constructed by the United States since the space shuttle was retired. It has been in development since the 1990s, but its purpose has not been made public. The X37B is the latest variant of a program of spaceplanes intended to perform similar functions to the now cancelled Space Shuttle program that preceded it. It is autonomous, small and very fast.
     The Boeing X-37 is also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle. It is a reusable autonomous spaceplane. A regular launch vehicle carries it into space. After returning to the Earth’s atmosphere, it lands like a conventional aircraft.
     The X-37 is currently run by the U.S. Space Force. Up until 2019, it was run by the Air Force Space Command. It was used for covert missions and orbital spaceflight missions meant to showcase reusable space capabilities. The X-37 is a variant of the Boeing X-40 that was scaled down by one hundred and twenty percent.
      Before it was delivered to the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in 2004, the X-37 was a NASA project. The development of the X-37 started in 1999 when NASA chose Boeing Integrated Defense Systems to design and construct an orbital vehicle. Boeing’s Phantom Works in California carried out the construction of the vehicle. The Phantom Works is Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security’s advanced research, development and prototyping division.
     The X-37 project cost one hundred and ninety-two million dollars spread out over four years. NASA spent one hundred and nine million dollars, the U.S. Air Force spent sixteen million dollars and Boeing spent sixty-seven million dollars. At the end of 2002, Boeing received a new three hundred-million-dollar contract as part of NASA’s Space Launch Initiative framework.
     Compared to DARPA’s Hypersonic Technology Vehicle, the X-37 has a reduced cross range and Mach numbers at higher altitudes because of its aerodynamic design. This design was adapted from the larger Space Shuttle orbiter. An early specification for the spacecraft was to provide a total mission delta-v of seven thousand miles per hour.
     The X-37 was initially intended to be carried into orbit in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle. DARPA received the X-37 from NASA on September 13, 2004.
   ;  The ability of the X-3237 to rendezvous with satellites to carry out maintenance was an early objecti of the probam. The X-37 underwent design changes so it could be launched on a Celta IV or equivalent rocket after it was discovered that a shuttle trip would not be financially viable. Today, the X-37B is launched on top of the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V booster into space. It is also capable of being launched by different rockets. For its fifth mission in 2017, a Falcon 9 rocket was used.
     The X-37B project was later labeled as classified. The X-37 was advertised by DARPA as a component of the independent space policy that the U.S. Department of Defense has been pursuing since th Challenger catastrophe in 1986.
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     The frequency of somatic mutation in the genes that the researchers assessed was less than two percent. This is the technical threshold for somatic mutations in hematopoietic stem cells to be considered clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential. CHIP is more common in older individuals and is associated with increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases as well as hematologic and solid cancer.
      Dr. Goukassian said, “Although the clonal hematopoiesis we observed was of a relatively small size, the fact that we observed these mutations was surprising given the relatively young age and health of these astronauts. The presence of these mutations does not necessarily mean that the astronauts will develop cardiovascular disease or cancer, but there is the risk that, over time, this could happen through ongoing and prolonged exposure to the extreme environment of deep space. Through this study, we have shown that we can determine the individual susceptibility of astronauts to develop disease related to their work without any implications that can affect their ability to do their work. Indeed, our studies demonstrate the importance of early and ongoing screening to assess that susceptibility. Our recommendation is that NASA, and its medical team, screen astronauts for somatic mutations and possible clonal expansion, or regression, every three to five years, and, not less importantly, well into their retirement years when somatic mutations may expand clonally and become CHIP.”
     The team’s research followed previous studies that used the same samples to identify predictive biomarkers in exsomes. These are small lipid-layered microscopic vesicles of nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and metabolites that form within the cells of the human body. They are subsequently released into the circulating blood. They carry information from their cells of origin that reflects their intercellular condition. This feature of exomes may qualify them as great biomarkers of health and/or disease. They can transfer information from one cell to another at great distances in the body.
     The researchers treated human heart cells with exosomes derived from astronauts. They found that the exosomes affected the biology or the Vitamin D receptor. This vitamin plays a key role in bone, heart, and skeletal muscle health. They also assessed the impact of space flight on mitochondrial DNA. This is the genome of small organelles that supply energy to the cells. In that part of the study, the team found that the amount of cell-free mitochondrial DNA circulating in the blood of astronauts was two to three hundred and fifty times high than normal. This may lead to oxidative damage and inflammation elsewhere in the body.
     Dr. Goukassian added, “Through these studies, we have demonstrated the potential to assess the health risk of space flight among astronauts. What is important now is to conduct longitudinal retrospective and well-controlled prospective studies involving a large number of astronauts to see how that risk evolves based on continued exposure and then compare that data against their clinical symptoms, imaging, and lab results. That will enable us to make informed predictions as to which individuals are more likely to develop disease based on the phenomena we are seeing and open the door to individualized precision medicine approaches to early intervention and prevention.”

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     Recent research has shown that astronauts are at a higher risk for developing mutation that can increase the risk of developing cancer and heart disease in their lifetimes. This mutation risk may be related to spaceflight. This is a first of its kind study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai revealed the problem.
     A team of Icahn researchers collected blood samples from National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronauts who flew space shuttle missions between 1998 and 2001. The scientists discovered DNA mutation known as somatic mutations in the blood-forming system in all fourteen astronauts whose blood was studied.
      The research was published in the August issue of the journal Communications Biology. The article suggests that spaceflight could be associated with these mutations and emphasized the importance of continuing blood screening of astronauts throughout their careers and during their retirement to monitor their health.
      Somatic mutations are mutations that occur after a person is conceived and in cells other than sperm or egg cells. This means that they cannot be passed along to offspring. The mutations identified in this study were characterized by the overrepresentation of blood cells derived from a single clone. This is a process called clonal hematopoiesis.
     This type of mutation is frequently caused by environmental factors such as exposure to ultraviolet radiation or certain chemicals. It may be a result of cancer chemo- or radiotherapy. There are few signs or symptoms associated with CH. Most patients are diagnosed after genetic testing of their blood for other diseases. Although CH is not necessarily an indicator of disease, it is definitely associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and blood cancer.
     David Goukassian, MD, is Professor of Medicine with the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Icahn Mount Sinai and the lead author of the study. He said, “Astronauts work in an extreme environment where many factors can result in somatic mutations, most importantly space radiation, which means there is a risk that these mutations could develop into clonal hematopoiesis. Given the growing interest in both commercial spaceflights and deep space exploration, and the potential health risks of exposure to various harmful factors that are associated with repeated or long-duration exploration space missions, such as a trip to Mars, we decided to explore, retrospectively, somatic mutation in the cohort of 14 astronauts.”
     The subjects of the study were astronauts who flew relatively short space shuttle missions between 1998 and 2001. Their median age was about forty-two years old; around eighty five percent were male, and six of the fourteen were on their first mission. The researchers collected whole blood samples from the astronauts ten days before launch and on the day they landed. White blood cells were sampled three days after landing. The samples were stored at -176 degrees Fahrenheit for about twenty years.
     The blood samples were subjected to DNA sequencing followed by extensive bioinformatics analyses. Researchers identified thirty-four mutations in seventeen CH-driver sites. The most frequent mutations identified occurred in TP53. This is a gene that produces a tumor-suppressing protein. Another of the most frequently mutated genes was DNMT3A which is implicated in acute myeloid leukemia.
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     Last Monday, China denounced NASA’s claims it is planning to take over the moon as part of its military space program. The allegations came from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. He stated Saturday that the US is now involved in a space race with China. He told a German newspaper, “We must be very concerned that China is landing on the moon and saying: ‘It’s ours now and you stay out’. China is not taking the allegations lightly.
     Zhao Lijian is a spokesman at the Chinese foreign ministry, said in a statement: “This is not the first time that the head of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration has ignored the facts and spoken irresponsibly about China. “The US side has constantly constructed a smear campaign against China’s normal and reasonable outer space endeavors, and China firmly opposes such irresponsible remarks.” Nelson added that Chinese astronauts are being trained to destroy other country’s satellites and the nation “has stolen ideas and technology from others” in order to make its claim on the moon. Zhao said China had always advocated the peaceful use of outer space and opposed its weaponization.
     Zhao said, “The development of China’s space industry has been achieved entirely through independence and self-reliance, and its rights and achievements cannot be questioned or discredited in any way.” He added that China has always promoted the building of a shared future for humanity in outer space and opposed its weaponization and any arms race in space.
     NASA seems to be threatened by China’s move into the space race, as the nation is the most recent space agency to venture to the moon. China recovered samples from the moon in December 2020, the first nation to do so since the Soviet Luna 24 probe in 1976. NASA’s last mission to the Moon was on December 17, 1972. China has yet put astronauts on the lunar surface. NASA has landed 12 men on the moon.
     The American space agency now plans on landing people on the Moon in 2025. China is considering 2030 for sending its first astronauts to the Moon. The two space-faring nations are not just battling over the moon but are also competing for Mars.
     In June 2021, China announced it plans to send its first manned mission to Mars in 2033. The goal is the construction of a base and extraction of resources from the Red Planet. This plan was outlined in a new presentation made by Wang Xiaojun. He is the head of China Academy of Launch Facilities Technology.
     The ambitious Chinese plan will intensify a race with the US to put humans on Mars, with NASA aiming for some time during the 2030s. Wang’s Mars roadmap consists of three stages for colonizing the Red Planet. The first stage will use robots to find possible sites for the base on Mars and build systems to source resources. NASA is using its Artemis mission to send the first Americans to Mars, also by 2033. It will be a race between the US and China to see which one lands humans on Mars first.

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     Researchers at UNSW’s Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research are finding ways to reduce risks in a space resources industry. There are many technical and economical challenges. Getting mining equipment into space will be expensive even with the falling launch costs. Mining operations will have to be as light as possible to be practical and cost-effective. The further that a target is from Earth, the longer it will take for spacecraft to reach it. There is a delay of up to forty minutes when sending a command to a rover on the surface of Mars. And another forty minutes is required to get a status update.
     The Moon only has a two and seven tenths second delay for communications, and it may be easier to mine the lunar surface remotely. Near-Earth objects also have orbits that are similar to Earth’s orbit. They occasionally pass by the Earth at distances comparable to the Moon. They are an ideal candidate for off-Earth mining because they need little energy to reach and return from.
     Off-Earth mining would need to be mostly automated or remotely controlled because of the additional challenges of sending humans into space. Astronauts require life support, protection from radiation and additional launch costs. On the other hand, mining systems on Earth aren’t fully automated yet. Robotics will need to improve substantially before asteroid mining can be automated.
      Spacecraft have landed on asteroids several times and even returned samples. These were brought to Woomera in South Australia during the Hayabusa 1 and 2 missions. The global success rate for landing on asteroids and comets is low. In 2014, the Philae lander was sent to comet 67P/Churyumov/Gerasimenko. It tumbled into a ditch on the surface of the comet during a failed landing attempt.
      There are also environmental considerations for space mining. It may help reduce the amount of mining needed on Earth. However, that will only be true if off-Earth mining requires less, not more, rocket launches or if the resources are brought back to Earth and used on Earth. Although collecting resources in space might reduce the need to launch them from Earth, more launches may be inevitable as the space economy grows.
     There is also the question of whether proposed mining techniques will even work in space environments. Different planetary bodies have different atmospheres, gravity, geology and electrostatic environments. For example, other bodies may have electrically charged soil due to bombardment by the solar wind. How these conditions will affect off-Earth operations is still largely unknown.
     It is still early days for space mining, but companies are currently developing technologies for off-Earth mining, space resources explorations, and for other uses in space.
     The Canadian Space Mining Corporation is developing infrastructure needed to support life in space, including oxygen generators and other machinery.
      U.S.-based company Off World is developing industrial robots for operations Earth, the Moon, asteroids, and Mars. The Asteroid Mining Corporation is also working on developing a market for space resources.

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     Planetary bodies such as the Moon, Mars, asteroids and comets contain substantial deposits of valuable resources. This has captured the attention of both researchers and industry who hope that they will be mined to support a space economy.
      Establishing any kind of off-Earth mining industry will be a difficult task. Here are some of the challenges that we are facing.
      Considering off-Earth mining, the first thing that may come to mind is extracting materials from bodies in space and bringing them back to Earth. However, this is unlikely to be the first commercially viable system. If we want to establish a permanent base on the Moon as proposed by NASA, we would need to resupply astronauts living there. Consumable resources such as water can only be recycled to an extent. Resources are extremely expensive to launch from Earth. Today it cost roughly two thousand five hundred dollars to launch one pound into Earth orbit. It costs more to boost a payload out of Earth orbit to the Moon or beyond. It is likely that materials that have been mined in space will be used in space to help save on launch costs.
     Harvesting materials that will be utilized on-site is called “in-situ resource utilization”. It can involve anything from collecting materials to construct buildings on the Moon to mining ice for water.
     Mining in space could also be transformative for satellite management. The current practice is to de-orbit satellites after ten to twenty years when they run out of fuel. One major goal of space companies such as Orbit Fab is to design a type of satellite that can be refueled using propellant collected in space. Even for low-Earth orbiting satellites, the energy required to reach them from the Moon is less than that needed to reach them from Earth.
     With respect to off-Earth mining opportunities, there are a few resources that are both abundant and valuable. Some asteroids are known to contain vast amounts of iron, nickel, gold and platinum group metals. These can be used for construction and electronics manufacture.
     Lunar regolith contains large amounts of helium-3. This may become a valuable resource in the future if nuclear fusion can be achieved on Earth. British company Metalysis has developed a process that could be used to extract oxygen from lunar regolith.
      Ice is expected to exist on the surface of the Moon in permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles. It is also believed that there is ice beneath the surface of Mars, asteroids and comets. This could be used to support life or it could be broken down into oxygen and hydrogen to use for rocket propellant.
     Some proposals for off-Earth mining are similar to mining techniques on Earth. For example, lunar explorers could mine lunar regolith with a bucket-wheel excavator. Asteroids could be mined with a tunnel boring machine. Other proposals are less well known. A vacuum-like machine could pull regolith up a tube. This system has been used on some excavations on Earth.
     Researchers from the University of New South Wales Sydney and the Australian National University propose the use of biomining. This system introduces bacteria into an asteroid that would then consume minerals and produce a gas. The gas could then be harvested and collected by a probe.
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     Most of the satellites that are launched into space have antennas for communications. Elaborate folding antennas are necessary in order to fit them inside the payload of the launch vehicle. Once the satellite reaches its preferred orbit, the antenna must be unfolded and spread out in order to function. Problems with deploying the antenna can be fatal to a satellite.
     Now a new technology can 3-D print an antenna in space with the help of sunlight. This system can eliminate the current complex antenna deployment process and reduce the cost of the satellite and the possible problems with antenna deployment. This new system was developed by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. It employs a special type of resin that turns into a rigid solid material when it is exposed to ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
     So far, MEC has only been able to demonstrate the technology in a special test chamber that simulates the conditions in space. They have printed an antenna dish about six inches in diameter that performs as well as conventional satellite antennas.
     The sensitivity of an antenna is directly related to the size of the antenna. The larger the antenna, the better it is able to detect and transmit signals. However, size has always been a problem for satellite antennas because they have to fit inside the fairing that makes up the upper section of a rocket. The antenna also has to be very sturdy in order to survive the intense vibrations that occur during launch. This increases the weight of the satellite. The heavier a satellite is, the more expensive it is to launch into orbit.
      Components that are 3-D printed in space can be much lighter and thinner because they do not have to survive the rigors of launch. By 3-D printing antennas in space, the launchers would not only save money but, because their satellites would be lighter, they would also be able to launch much smaller satellites with much larger antennas that they could launch by current systems.
      This technology prepares the way for “3D printing of very large structures in space,” which could never be launched by today’s systems.
      The special photosensitive resin is also heat resistance. It can survive temperatures of up to seven hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit. This much higher than temperatures typically encountered by spacecraft in Earth orbit. The company said, in a statement, that “Spacecraft antenna designs are challenging due to their conflicting requirements for high gain, wide bandwidth and low weight. High gain and wide bandwidth necessarily require a large aperture, but economical orbital deployment conventionally dictates that designs be lightweight and small enough to fit or fold inside a launch vehicle or satellite deployment mechanism.”
     The company also said that its resin is the first such compound that is suitable for use in a vacuum. It does not require atmospheric oxygen to prevent it from solidifying too quickly. The use of natural ultraviolet light to cure the resin reduces the power consumption of the 3-D printer.

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     While it may seem to be harmless to blow up your own satellites in space, there is a very real threat growing. Every time a satellite is destroyed, whether it was attacked by ASAT weaponry, or it just collided with some other orbital object, the result is thousands of tiny bits of debris spreading across the orbit of the original satellite. If this happened on Earth, it would just mean that a lot of litter needed to be swept up. However, in orbit, this means thousands of shards of metal, plastic, and ceramics orbiting the Earth many times faster than a bullet.
     An excellent example of the space debris problem was when Russia carried out its most recent ASAT weapon test in November of last year. Debris from the destroyed satellite came dangerously close to hitting the International Space Station. Emergency orbital maneuvers were necessary to move the ISS out of danger.
     The main purpose of VP Harris’s announcement at Vandenberg was to address this problem of space junk. By setting up norms of behavior for the exploration of space, it is hoped that other nations will follow them. Robin Dicky is chief analyst Aerospace Center for Space Policy and Strategy. She said, “There are tons of different norms conversations happening—there’s no one size fits all solution for how to develop them. The approach that you take is likely to be very different depending on the content and context.”
      The global astronomy community and scientists across the world fully support the idea of eliminating space debris. This includes the end of ASAT weapons testing. Unfortunately, it may still take time for these space norms to become official policy. Russia and China have disconnected themselves from European and U.S. space programs. This makes the prospect of a “universal protocol” very difficult to achieve at this time.
     It will probably take much longer than we hoped, but the circumstances are not as dire as they may seem. Projects such as ClearSpace1 are in development to manage the plague of space junk by collecting it and performing controlled atmospheric burns to dispose of it. If we can achieve a global agreement to put a halt to the development and testing of ASAT weapons, it will establish the groundwork for sustainable long-term management of orbital junk. The historic announcement by VP Harris at Vandenberg is an important step in the right direction.
     At the rate we are putting things into Earth orbit, reaching a consensus between all private space enterprises and space agencies will become critical. According to the MIT Technology Review, they estimate that by 2025, there could be as many as a thousand satellites being launched each year. Dicky said, “Setting these common expectations for what’s acceptable and not acceptable in space is a crucial step to make sure that space is safe and usable for all in the decades to come.”
         Of greatest concern with respect to orbital debris is something called the Kessler Syndrome. This would take place if collisions in orbit led to a chain reaction of cascading collisions that filled Earth orbit with so much debris that it would become impossible to launch anything into orbit. If the Kessler Syndrome actually happens, it would put an end to human space exploration and exploitation.