S. Korea, US to work together against outer space waste

By Kim Hyo-jin

Korea and the United States have agreed to jointly take measures against space debris in response to the rising risk of possible collisions with satellites.

Officials from both governments held their first annual talks on space policies at the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. Thursday and shared concerns about the increasing space waste.

The agreement came days after a South Korea satellite barely avoided a collision with a piece of debris produced by the 2009 collision between an inactive Russian communications satellite and an active U.S. satellite.

“Securing stability in space is becoming more important as there is an increasing amount of space debris that can possibly collide with satellites,” said a foreign ministry official, adding that both nations shared the necessity of jointly responding to the issue.

During the talks, they discussed joint measures to raise “Space Situational Awareness.” This refers to the ability to view, understand and predict the physical location of natural and manmade objects in orbit around the Earth.

Both parties are expected to hold a second dialogue sometime next year.