Dancing Lights in Space: How to Manage The Risks of Satellite Close Approaches in Geostationary Orbit

There are increased concerns by both commercial satellite operators and governments about uncoordinated close approaches of their satellites by others in space. This is particularly true in the geostationary belt, where many valuable commercial and national security satellites orbit the Earth in predictable locations. The Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Secure World Foundation (SWF) held a virtual event from 10:00 to 12:00 EST, January 26, 2022, to discuss this issue and what might be done about it.

Keynote Speaker:

Ms. Audrey Schaffer, Director for Space Policy at the U.S. National Security Council 

Panel 1 - How Well Can We Monitor and Characterize Close Approaches in GEO? 

• Moderator - Makena Young, Associate Fellow with the Aerospace Security Project at CSIS
• Brien Flwelling, Innovation Boffin at ExoAnalytic Solutions
• Dan Oltrogge, Director of the Center for Space Standards and Innovation at ComSpOC Corporation
• Marc Becker, DLR and co-chair of the European Space Surveillance and Tracking Program

Panel 2 - Policies and Norms to Manage Satellite Close Approaches 

• Moderator - Brian Weeden, Director of Program Planning at SWF
• Doug Loverro, Independent Consultant 
• Alessandro Cacioni, Director of Flight Dynamics, Inmarsat
• Almudena Azcárate Ortega, Associate Researcher in the Space Security & the WMD Programmes, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research 

Speaker Bios

Transcript

Media 

• China’s SJ-21 ‘tugs’ dead satellite out of GEO belt: Trackers (Breaking Defense) 
• White House official: Norms needed for ‘satellite to satellite interaction’ (SpaceNews)
  
• China’s Shijian-21 spacecraft towed a dead satellite high above graveyard orbit (SpaceNews)