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<p>The United Kingdom, through the UK Space Agency (UKSA), is one of the thirteen
members of the Inter-Agency Debris Coordination (IADC) Committee, which considers
the risks posed by space debris. Our national experts, along with more than a hundred
experts from other agencies including NASA, met at Harwell in March 2016 for the annual
IADC meeting to discuss many issues, including the need for the removal of space debris
from orbit, and how that could best be accomplished.</p><p>The UK is leading studies
in partnership with other national agencies to model the future space environment
and identify the most effective ways of mitigating the future hazard of space debris.</p><p>UKSA
is working with its international partners in technical forums such as the IADC to
develop scientific consensus on the best way to manage the hazard posed by debris,
such as how many objects might need to be removed, and from where. UKSA is also working
to build political consensus within UN forums such as the Committee on the Peaceful
Uses of Outer Space to enable such missions to go ahead with appropriate supervision
and support from the international community. This includes developing appropriate
regulatory/oversight frameworks within the UK’s Outer Space Act which allow such technologies
to be tested and demonstrated safely in the increasingly congested and contested space
environment.</p>
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