Space, the final frontier, is getting more and more crowded. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, there are currently about 5,500 satellites orbiting the Earth, and that number will only increase in the coming years. In particular, private companies are planning to launch communications satellites at an unprecedented rate. That’s why the three biggest players, Iridium, OneWeb, and SpaceX, have jointly released a guide to best practices for orbital safety. So if you have plans to deploy your own satellite, or just want to know what it takes to do so safely, read on.

The guidelines were developed by three companies and “facilitated” by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). SpaceX is the largest satellite operator, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. As part of the Starlink constellation, there are a whopping 2,219 satellites in orbit, outstripping all other satellites, including NASA (73), the US Air Force (95) and the Russian military (73). increase. Another satellite internet operator, OneWeb, is the second farthest away with 427 satellites in orbit. As a satellite operator, Iridium can cover the globe with just 75 satellites, yet its voice and text calling services have much lower bandwidth requirements than a full-fledged Internet connection.

In the introductory portion of their best practice guidelines, three companies explain why. “Given the rapid pace of innovation occurring in the space sector, governments have a responsibility to put in place appropriate regulatory structures that keep pace and facilitate this innovation,” the report explains. “For these regulations to be effective, they must be adequate to maintain sustainable operations in space without stifling innovation or impeding new applications that have tangible benefits to the public and governments. (In other words, they want to keep doing what they are doing.)

The proposed best practices are divided into four phases: design time (A), pre-launch and early orbit (B), on-orbit (C), and satellite disposal (D). Each stage has a number of important practices that satellite operators should ideally follow.

Design-time guidelines concern preparing the satellite for safe launch and time in orbit. They suggest his three key practices: Make sure your spaceship hardware is working. Also make sure the software running on board and controlled from the ground works as well.

For Pre-Launch and Early Orbit, the guidelines are primarily to make sure other space operators know what you’re doing and that you accidentally hit another orbiting satellite or worse The three recommended methods are: Communicate your launch strategy well in advance to other space operators and the global community, avoid going near “manned assets”, and work with “inventory” organizations to track launches and early orbits. .

Once the satellite reaches space, the “on-orbit” guidelines have to do with keeping things as they are. And again, it does it without crashing into things. Here are the recommended methods: Keep everyone up to date with what you’re doing with your satellite. Continuously conduct collision avoidance risk assessments. If the risk of collision is high, do something about it.

Finally, once the satellite has completed its mission, the satellite disposal guidelines are concerned with ensuring that it can be safely disposed of. Space in orbit is limited, so dead satellites should not be left there. There is only one best practice for that. It is to proactively and rapidly manage de-orbits of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites nearing the end of their effective mission life.

Of course, having a set of guidelines is very different from having a set of laws that everyone must follow. SpaceX in particular has been criticized for the sheer number of satellites it plans to launch (and has launched). It remains to be seen whether this attempt at self-regulation will be enough to stem individual countries from creating what the report describes as a “running patchwork of discordant rules.”