In 2008, the European Union published a draft code of conduct "for outer-space activities." In this edited conversation with staff writer Michael Matza, Zenko says the Obama administration should endorse the European Union's plan as a first step to regulate "the contested, congested" vastness of space.
Question: Why should we care about space junk?
Micah Zenko: It's not so much the stuff that is going to land on us. There are 22,000 pieces bigger than a softball that the U.S. can track. [About] one piece falls back into the atmosphere per day, always burning up. . . . But a fleck of paint traveling 29,000 miles per hour can ruin satellites that control banking, cellphones, ATMs, weather forecasts, communications. They provide ISR [intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance] . . . to battlefield commanders and the Pentagon.
Q: We dominate in space. What's in it for us to cooperate internationally?
Zenko: There are highly desirable orbits that people want. But we all can't go there. You have to work out ahead of time who goes where. . . . The U.N. Institute for Disarmament [does] some of this. Commercial space operators, operating bilaterally, try to do some. . . . Half the satellites in space can be maneuvered; the other half cannot. . . . If I have to move my satellite, I might lose a $25 [million] to $50 million investment. When two satellites are [predicted] to hit, how do we decide who moves?
Q: You support a code of conduct that is not legally binding. Why?
