Video Caption: In today’s episode we’ll explore the growing problem of space junk and how the new company Privateer Space is working to help make space safer. Joining us today is Dr. Moriba Jah, the Chief Scientist of Privateer. Moriba is a co-founder of Privateer along with the company’s CEO Alex Fielding and the company’s president, Steve Wozniak. Moriba is a renowned astrodynamicist, a space environmentalist, and an associate professor […]

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Senate and House committees held hearings on consecutive days last week about space situational awareness (SSA) and space traffic management (STM), i.e., the ability to accurately track objects in Earth orbit and to avoid dangerous collisions that could knock out satellites and even render entire orbits unusable.

The overall conclusion was that, although progress is being made, we’re not nearly as aware as we need to be as orbital debris poses an ever bigger problem and companies prepare to launch tens of thousands of new satellites.

“Near Earth space is geo-politically contested, it’s commercially contested and it’s in dire need of environmental protection because it is a finite resource,” said Moriba Jah, an associate professor of astronautics at the University of Texas.