Space Debris Accumulation: FCC Imposes First Penalty for Abandoned Satellites

Recently, there is more and more talk about the damage caused by space debris, the amount of which is increasing rapidly in low Earth orbit every year. Most of them are abandoned satellites or their debris, the volume of which reaches almost 10,000 tons. They threaten the movement of spacecraft and create risks of possible collisions with other space objects. When moving at a speed of several thousand kilometers per hour, even a few millimeters of tiny debris can cause serious damage. Three years ago, the European Space Agency promised to launch a mission to collect space debris, channeling 86 million euros. Nothing has been heard about this mission, but there is another way to slow down the accumulation of space debris – companies will be fined for abandoned satellites in the future.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it has imposed the first penalty for abandoned, non-functioning satellites. Dish Network has been fined $150,000 for failing to properly dispose of an obsolete satellite after its mission.

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Although the FCC and Dish Network had agreed on how the company would remove the EchoStar-7 satellite, launched in 2002, from low Earth orbit, things did not go as planned. The satellite was scheduled to be decommissioned in May 2022 and then moved out of low Earth orbit. However, the remaining fuel was too small to bring EchoStar-7 to its destination – the part of the orbit where the so-called “satellite graveyard” or worn-out satellites are located. Dish Network realized this and therefore decided to simply abandon this satellite.

Dish Network has pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $150,000 fine. True, this amount of punishment rather serves as a warning to others, so it is expected that future punishments could already be more severe.

2023-10-04 06:30:00
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