Space Regulatory Glossary Agencies

NASA

/ˈnæsə/ noun (abbr.)

1. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The U.S. federal agency responsible for the nation's civil space program, aeronautics research, and space science.
2. NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office developed the Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices — the origin of the 25-year post-mission disposal guideline that the FCC's five-year rule replaced. NASA also operates the Conjunction Assessment program that provides collision avoidance screening for all trackable objects in orbit.

Related terms

orbital debris Non-functional human-made objects in Earth orbit, including defunct satellites, spent rocket stages, fragmentation… Kessler syndrome A theoretical scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit reaches a tipping point where collisions… Five-Year Rule An FCC rule adopted in September 2022 (effective September 2024) requiring satellite operators in low Earth orbit to… conjunction assessment The process of predicting and evaluating potential close approaches between objects in orbit.

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