A group of major satellite operators has published version 3.0 of the “Orbital Safety Best Practices for Satellite Operators“. The document, facilitated by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), argues that voluntary industry standards are a better way to keep up with space technology than static government rules. To put this into practice, it sets clear technical baselines, such as a 1 in 10,000 probability of collision threshold to trigger safety maneuvers on orbit.
The signatories—Amazon Leo, Eutelsat, Iridium, and SpaceX —believe that flexible guidelines are needed to keep the space domain safe as innovation accelerates. The document warns that because technology changes so fast, rigid regulations “quickly become out of date and can serve to lock in aging technology at the expense of modernization and upgrades”.
The framework breaks satellite operations into four lifecycle phases, detailing the specific technical expectations for each:
- Design Time: Spacecraft must be built with the ability to reliably maneuver to manage their orbits. They must also meet strict safety standards so that any parts surviving atmospheric reentry impact Earth with less than 15 joules of kinetic energy, keeping the casualty risk below 1 in 10,000.
- Pre-Launch: Before launch, operators must check their trajectories to avoid crewed spacecraft. They should also publicly share how they plan to move their satellites from their initial injection orbit to their final operational orbits.
- On-Orbit: Satellites moving to a new orbit bear the default responsibility for maneuvering around satellites that are already on station. The framework advises operators to perform maneuvers when the collision risk is higher than 1 in 10,000 , aiming to reduce that risk by at least 1.5 orders of magnitude.
- Satellite Disposal: Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites that will not naturally burn up in the atmosphere within five years of ending their missions must be actively and quickly deorbited.
The document is designed to serve as a shared foundation for safe space operations and cooperation while international regulations continue to develop.