Goddard Project

To ensure satellites are able to perform their missions, it is essential to minimize the creation of new debris. The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordinating Committee (IADC), consisting of 11 space agencies, has developed a set of voluntary mitigation guidelines.

Guidelines include venting excess rocket fuel into space and switching off battery-charging lines when missions are completed to reduce the risk of explosion; de-orbiting old satellites from LEO so they burn up in the atmosphere; and boosting satellites in GEO into graveyard orbits at the end of their life.

To their credit, the United States, France, Russia and the European Space Agency have voluntarily implemented these guidelines for some government-sponsored space operations