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NASA is sponsoring research proposals from three university-based teams over the course of the next year to examine the economic, social, and policy concerns related to space sustainability as part of its efforts to manage orbital debris.
The term "orbital debris" refers to human-made items in Earth's orbit that are no longer useful, such as disassembled spacecraft, fragments from other spacecraft, and abandoned rocket stages.
As these items can harm spacecraft, threaten access to space, and obstruct the growth of a low-Earth orbit economy, including commercial participation, NASA takes the threat of orbital debris seriously. These new grants will help the agency's commitment to tackling the issue by funding research.
"Orbital debris is one of the great challenges of our era," said Bhavya Lal, associate administrator for the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
"Maintaining our ability to use space is critical to our economy, our national security, and our nation's science and technology enterprise. These awards will fund research to help us understand the dynamics of the orbital environment and show how we can develop policies to limit debris creation and mitigate the impact of existing debris."
Source: NASA TV