Model of the geosynchronous debris environment

Man made debris pollution is becoming a reality in geosynchronous altitude, with at least three known breakups up to now. Due to the fact that any object large enough to pose a potential hazard to other spacecraft will have a very long-lasting nature in this orbital region, further pollution must be restricted in order to pass the precious, unsubstitutable natural resource on to the future generation. Because of continued commercial interest in geostationary satellite missions, the annual launch rate into this altitude maintains a high level. The good news is that the rule of end of life disposal has been adopted at ITU. The bad news is that none of the debris can still be detected, due to a great amount of distance from the ground stations. Modeling effort is therefore quite important in understanding the present and future environment. Models will provide us with knowledge of what we will have to face, and on what should be done to minimize future hazard.