Post by auntym on Dec 16, 2013 11:49:53 GMT -6
www.davidreneke.com/plan-to-tax-use-of-outer-space/
12-16-2013
Plan To Tax Use Of Outer Space!
A small chunk of space debris strikes an orbiting weather satellite, breaking it apart and sending shattered pieces speeding into another used for global navigation. It gets worse!
It too splinters and the destructive pace continues – one hurling piece creating thousands more – as an uncontrolled chain reaction miles above Earth renders satellite after satellite useless. Television signals are lost. Flight communications are gone. Financial transactions are terminated. Global weather predictions are diminished. Military operations are compromised.
It could take decades, but Earth’s space is on pace to become a junkyard. Reminiscent of the current movie “Gravity,” in which astronauts are left adrift in space by debris, the scenario is not science fiction but a possibility based on the tons of metal that humans have sent into orbit in the more than 50 years since the launch of Sputnik.
But IPFW associate professor Nodir Adilov and his research colleagues have a plan: tax space. Adilov, 35, chairman of IPFW’s economics department, specializes in the telecommunications industry, for which satellites are integral. He is one of three economists who wrote a research paper proposing a space user tax with the dual purpose of decreasing the amount of equipment shot into orbit and helping to clean up the debris that’s there.
“We are becoming more reliant on satellites for communications,” Adilov said, but companies are reluctant to pay for space cleanup because of the cost. The paper, released last spring and currently being evaluated by other experts in the field, is “to show that you can actually use taxes to deal with this issue,” he said. Space is a valuable resource. Global satellite industry revenues totaled $189.5 billion in 2012, according to the Satellite Industry Association. There are about 965 active satellites in orbit, nearly half of them belonging to the U.S., according to the research paper. About a quarter of the U.S. satellites are for military use.
Currently there are voluntary guidelines that deal with space debris, making it difficult to enforce cleanup, Adilov said. Space is a shared resource, and with no disincentive, governments and corporations tend to add excessive debris. An international agreement is needed to resolve the issue, Adilov said. A tax is an option. Doing nothing could get scary.
CONTINUE READING: www.davidreneke.com/plan-to-tax-use-of-outer-space/
12-16-2013
Plan To Tax Use Of Outer Space!
A small chunk of space debris strikes an orbiting weather satellite, breaking it apart and sending shattered pieces speeding into another used for global navigation. It gets worse!
It too splinters and the destructive pace continues – one hurling piece creating thousands more – as an uncontrolled chain reaction miles above Earth renders satellite after satellite useless. Television signals are lost. Flight communications are gone. Financial transactions are terminated. Global weather predictions are diminished. Military operations are compromised.
It could take decades, but Earth’s space is on pace to become a junkyard. Reminiscent of the current movie “Gravity,” in which astronauts are left adrift in space by debris, the scenario is not science fiction but a possibility based on the tons of metal that humans have sent into orbit in the more than 50 years since the launch of Sputnik.
But IPFW associate professor Nodir Adilov and his research colleagues have a plan: tax space. Adilov, 35, chairman of IPFW’s economics department, specializes in the telecommunications industry, for which satellites are integral. He is one of three economists who wrote a research paper proposing a space user tax with the dual purpose of decreasing the amount of equipment shot into orbit and helping to clean up the debris that’s there.
“We are becoming more reliant on satellites for communications,” Adilov said, but companies are reluctant to pay for space cleanup because of the cost. The paper, released last spring and currently being evaluated by other experts in the field, is “to show that you can actually use taxes to deal with this issue,” he said. Space is a valuable resource. Global satellite industry revenues totaled $189.5 billion in 2012, according to the Satellite Industry Association. There are about 965 active satellites in orbit, nearly half of them belonging to the U.S., according to the research paper. About a quarter of the U.S. satellites are for military use.
Currently there are voluntary guidelines that deal with space debris, making it difficult to enforce cleanup, Adilov said. Space is a shared resource, and with no disincentive, governments and corporations tend to add excessive debris. An international agreement is needed to resolve the issue, Adilov said. A tax is an option. Doing nothing could get scary.
CONTINUE READING: www.davidreneke.com/plan-to-tax-use-of-outer-space/