For quite a bit of time now our rapid expansion in space has caused concern to many in the industry about the amount of space debris that we are compiling and potential negative effects this debris could have on spacecraft. When you search SpaceNews for the keyword space debris the website returns approximately 4700 results. The latest article titled ‘University researchers flag cislunar space debris concerns’ describes the concerns about debris fields orbiting the moon. And how unlike earth the moon does not have an atmosphere to slow down debris and burn it up, therefore it just lingers. This article also describes how there are multi nation cislunar missions being developed and occurring currently. The article also describes the space debris concerns as a chaotic and complex problem that many people are not taking into consideration and just maneuvering around the issue until they contribute to it.₁

In the cybersecurity industry environments described as chaotic, complex, and very concerning are usually prime candidates for exploitation. With a little research it is easy to see the conjunction assessments are a very big deal in space mission planning and spacecraft have to burn fuel to perform avoidance maneuvers. Hopefully the space debris databases are using some serious cybersecurity protections and are redundant to help ensure no false information is inserted or the information is not deleted. A successful cyber attack on that information could cause major damage to the industry.

1. https://spacenews.com/university-researchers-flag-cislunar-space-debris-concerns/ Leonard David, September 27, 2024