Satellites bring to mind images of shiny, angular objects orbiting Earth at tremendous speed through the boundless emptiness of space. Yet the orbits are no longer empty. Besides traffic, they are teeming with debris from spacecraft breaking up because of age, explosions, or collisions.
Orbital debris has doubled over the past decade. As of 2026, about 1.2 million objects measuring 1–10 cm are in orbit. Traveling at speeds of 7–8 km per second—10 times that of a bullet and 4–5 times that of the fastest planes—these objects can disable or destroy spacecraft. Without debris management, this growing danger to expensive space projects remains unchecked.
Two companies—ClearSpace and Astroscale—have approached the U.K. Space Agency to demonstrate active debris removal (ADR). ClearSpace has conducted two ADR missions for the agency. Last year, Astroscale received a U.S. patent for its 2021 filing for a cleanup system. Both companies are competing for a contract to remove two defunct British satellites from orbit.
But such nascent efforts are meager. They will not reach meaningful scale unless a binding international legal framework with clear protocols, impartial, well-coordinated monitoring, and enforceable liabilities is established. The current regime is wholly inadequate.
To understand how more


