ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies areas where civilian space activity operates specifically human spaceflight and planetary exploration. It examines the waste product of this activity, orbital debris. The chapter evaluates the difficulty faced by the ever-increasing number of space actors. It demonstrates that the governance framework is in need of rebalancing to take into account the competing interests of state and commercial actors. Designing the ethical underpinning for the ongoing development of the space environment is critical given the expansion of commercial and state-based activity in space. While discussions about alien biospheres remain largely abstract and the focus of very few missions, orbital debris has the potential to affect all aspects of space activity, and more significantly, if unchecked, could cause severe disruption to the Earth. In the post-Cold War world, commercial and corporate involvement has become a common feature of space activity.
