New 'rules of the road' in space

The Space Security Coalition (SSC) has published document with updated "rules of the road" satellites in Earth orbit. They are designed to prevent collisions in space.

Now the document has recommendations for coordinating maneuvers between objects. And the devices themselves are divided into five classes: unmanaged, with minimal maneuvering, maneuverable, objects with automatic collision avoidance and spacecraft with a crew.

In other words, the regulation explains how vehicles in orbit must give way to each other. The advantage was given to more complex and large objects. For example, when a spacecraft and an automatic collision avoidance device approach each other, the latter must change course.

The authors of the document note that the updated document is based to some extent on the “give way” maritime rule. This is when smaller ships with better maneuverability give way to larger ships that cannot quickly change course.

The new document has already been approved by 27 organizations, including major satellite communications operators GEO Inmarsat, Intelsat, SES, LEO Iridium and Planet. But this is not the final list, the SSC noted. The previous version of "SDA in space" was signed by 60 organizations.