Toward the end, the guy proposing the tax wants it high enough to discourage people from launching things into space. Sounds like a terrible idea.
I have an idea! Let’s make access to space so inexpensive that debris mitigation and removal becomes economically trivial.
Get the UN involved? For a tax scheme? That would not end well.
I’d be all for this if it was literally for taxing space debris. Not the companies or nations, but the debris themselves. I just have this wonderful vision of tax collectors in space chasing down bits of debris, tax bills in hand. They could then be diverted to destructive reentry. As for the debris, they could be sent to destructive reentry too.
If the operators of future satellites ensure their hardware isn’t contributing the the debris cloud they shouldn’t be facing a tax penalty, as the hazard is posed by debris from previously launched hardware.
As with any taxing scheme, I have to ask who gets the money and for what purpose?
The idea might have merit if you charged for every piece associated with a launch (payloads, rocket body, other debris) with the money going solely for debris removal efforts such as lasers. You could possibly refund the fee for deliberately deorbited satellites at the end of their mission. On the other hand, the responsible party would be charged for each new piece produced from a breakup or deliberate destruction.
As with any taxing scheme, I have to ask who is going to enforce it?
To tax an individual or organization requires another individual or organization to threaten the first with deadly force to extract the tax. The UN clearly doesn’t have the capability or will to do it. I don’t forsee any other nation having the will to do it either. Who would initiate hostilities against a belligerent country or company that refused to pay the tax after launching a cloud of crappy hardware into space (say for instance the NorKs)?
Toward the end, the guy proposing the tax wants it high enough to discourage people from launching things into space. Sounds like a terrible idea.
I have an idea! Let’s make access to space so inexpensive that debris mitigation and removal becomes economically trivial.
Get the UN involved? For a tax scheme? That would not end well.
I’d be all for this if it was literally for taxing space debris. Not the companies or nations, but the debris themselves. I just have this wonderful vision of tax collectors in space chasing down bits of debris, tax bills in hand. They could then be diverted to destructive reentry. As for the debris, they could be sent to destructive reentry too.
If the operators of future satellites ensure their hardware isn’t contributing the the debris cloud they shouldn’t be facing a tax penalty, as the hazard is posed by debris from previously launched hardware.
As with any taxing scheme, I have to ask who gets the money and for what purpose?
The idea might have merit if you charged for every piece associated with a launch (payloads, rocket body, other debris) with the money going solely for debris removal efforts such as lasers. You could possibly refund the fee for deliberately deorbited satellites at the end of their mission. On the other hand, the responsible party would be charged for each new piece produced from a breakup or deliberate destruction.
As with any taxing scheme, I have to ask who is going to enforce it?
To tax an individual or organization requires another individual or organization to threaten the first with deadly force to extract the tax. The UN clearly doesn’t have the capability or will to do it. I don’t forsee any other nation having the will to do it either. Who would initiate hostilities against a belligerent country or company that refused to pay the tax after launching a cloud of crappy hardware into space (say for instance the NorKs)?