Principal Investigator
Akhil Rao
Funding
University of Colorado Boulder
Collaboration + support
Matthew Burgess; Daniel Kaffine; Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences; Economics; Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute
Aging satellites and space debris crowd low-Earth orbit, and launching new satellites adds to the collision risk.听听
The most effective way to solve the space junk problem, according to a 抖阴旅行射 Boulder study, is not to capture debris or deorbit old satellites: it鈥檚 an international agreement to charge operators 鈥渙rbital-use fees鈥� for every satellite put into orbit.听
In a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 抖阴旅行射 Boulder economists Matthew Burgess and Daniel Kaffine show orbital-use fees would also increase the long-run value of the space industry. By reducing satellite and debris collision risk, an annual fee rising to about $235,000 per satellite would quadruple the value of the satellite industry by 2040.