Salt Spring Recommendations

The Salt Spring Recommendations were adopted at an international workshop on ‘Space Debris and National Security’ on Salt Spring Island, Canada, on January 10 and 11, 2020. They reflect a consensus view, and should not be attributed to the individual participants. The workshop was convened by the Outer Space Institute and the University of British Columbia with financial support from the Canadian Department of National Defence and the Salt Spring Forum.

Documents and Press

The OSI produces white papers, original research, and public communications, such as op-eds and interviews. We are just getting started, so while modest at the moment, expect this area to grow. Opinions expressed in the associated work are those of the authors, and do not reflect an official position of the OSI.

• Research Articles
• Fladeland, Boley, and Byers 2019, "Meteoroid Stream Formation Due to the Extraction of Space Resources from Asteroids", Conference paper for the 1st International Orbital Debris Conference, December 9-12, 2019.
• Boley et al. 2019, "The Role of NewSpace in Furthering Canadian Astronomy", White Paper for the Canadian Astronomy Long Range Plan 2020
• Byers 2019, "Cold, dark, and dangerous: international cooperation in the arctic and space", Polar Record, June 10

• Conference Presentations
• "Meteoroid Stream Formation Due to the Extraction of Space Resources from Asteroids" by Fladeland, Boley, and Byers. Presentation by Boley at the 1st International Orbital Debris Conference, December 9-12, 2019, Sugar Land, TX, USA
• "On the possibility of debris stream formation during asteroid mining operations" by Boley and Fladeland. Orginally published during the AAS Division of Planetary Science 50th meeting, Knoxville, October 2018

• Op-Eds
  • "Satellites and space debris are polluting our orbit. More than the stars are at stake" by Michael Byers and Aaron Boley. Originally published in The Globe and Mail.
  • "How Elon Musk can help save astronomy" by Michael Byers and Aaron Boley. Originally published in the Los Angeles Times.
  • "May the Space Force be with you: Canada and the non-weaponization of Space" by Paul Meyer. Orginally published in The Hill.
  • "Star Wars: Coming soon to a space near you – the diplomatic alternative" by Paul Meyer. Originally published for the Centre for International Policy Studies.
  • "Cold, dark and dangerous: The connection between the Arctic and outer space" by Michael Byers. Originally published in the Globe and Mail.
  • "With investment in Telesat, Canada enters the communications space race" by Michael Byers. Originally published in the Globe and Mail.
  • "Did climate change destroy the aliens?" by Michael Byers and Kent A. Peacock. Originally published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
  • "Toxic rocket fuel a hidden hazard for Canso" by Michael Byers and Cameron Byers. Originally published in The Chronicle Herald.
  • "Relax: An asteroid will just miss hitting Earth. But our actions could still have a deep impact" by Michael Byers and Aaron Boley. Originally published in the Globe and Mail.
  • "Washington sparks a space spat at the United Nations" by Paul Meyer. Originally published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
  • "Canada should lend the Lunar Gateway project a hand – or even a whole arm" by Michael Byers. Originally published in the Globe and Mail.
  • "Canada and space security diplomacy: getting back into the game" by Paul Meyer. Published in The Hill Times, 26th November 2018 (no link at this time).
  • "Soyuz rocket failure: Russia has lost its reputation as a space leader" by Michael Byers. Originally published in the Globe and Mail.
  • "Trump wants a Space Force. He won't get one" by Michael Byers. Originally published in the Globe and Mail.
  • "Elon Musk, President of Mars?" by Michael Byers. Originally published in the Washington Post.
• Resources
  • AstriaGraph, a tool for viewing current space traffic and resident space object information. Developed and maintained by Moriba Jah and the Astria collaboration.
• Talks
  • "TedxASU Talk on The Future of the Space Era 4.0" by Timiebi Aganaba-Jeanty.
  • TED Talk on "The Worlds First Crowdsourced Space Traffic Monitoring System" by Moriba Jah.
• Interviews
  • "Modeling Debris from Asteroid Mining to Inform Legal Frameworks" by David Rich. Originally published on The Space Resource.
  • “In space, no one wants to clean up” by Malone Mullin, originally published for the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies.
  • "Regulating the Final Frontier" by Richard Littlemore. Originally published in Trek Magazine.
  • "Greening the Future of Outer Space" by Ramin Skibba. Originally published in Smithsonian Magazine.