Space Station - Delays in Dealing with Space Debris May Reduce Safety and Increase Costs: Imtec-92-50 (Paperback)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) progress in its: (1) incorporation of the current estimate of the debris environment into space station requirements; (2) effort to keep the debris environment model current; and (3) overall strategy to protect the station from space debris of various sizes. GAO found that: (1) most current NASA designs to protect the space station and crew from debris are outdated, since they rely on a 1984 model of the space environment, which underestimates the increasing amount of debris the space station will encounter; (2) although NASA has instructed its space centers to incorporate a 1991 model into their designs, the centers have not yet implemented the change, as it will negatively affect design, cost, and scheduling; (3) the overall NASA protection strategy for space debris is insufficient; (4) before NASA completes critical design reviews in early 1993, it must make decisions regarding tradeoffs between costs to protect the station, possible scheduling delays, and acceptable risks to station safety; and (5) NASA has been working with other space-faring nations to avoid further debris creation, and has made progress in estimating the current and future severity of the debris problem.