Tournament: Harvard | Round: 2 | Opponent: SOUTH EUGENE INDEPENDENT KS | Judge: VIREN ABHYANKAR
Private actors are uniquely key to avoid debris cascades – they have lower safety standards and won’t cooperate with others
Yuan 21 Alda Yuan, Public Health Analyst U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and visiting attorney at the Enivornmental Law Institute with a JD from Yale, 2021, “FILLING THE VACUUM: ADAPTING INTERNATIONAL SPACE LAW TO MEET THE PRESSURES CREATED BY PRIVATE SPACE ENTERPRISES,” Hein Online, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/denilp49andi=27/Kankee
Incoming mega-constellations of satellites ensure unmanageable space debris, triggering the Kessler Syndrome. No alt causes---current debris is being managed but constellations push Kessler over the brink.
Boley and Byers 21 Aaron C., Department of Physics and Astronomy @ The University of British Columbia*, and Michael, Department of Political Science @ The University of British Columbia; Published: 20 May 2021; Scientific Reports; “Satellite mega-constellations create risks in Low Earth Orbit, the atmosphere and on Earth,” https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-89909-7
Absent megaconstellations, LEO debris would increase slowly for decades, eventually stabilizing after 200 years. Prefer NASA studies
Liou et al. 18 Dr. J.-C. Liou is the NASA Chief Scientist for Orbital Debris; Matney M., NASA Johnson Space Center; Vavrin A., GeoControl Systems – Jacobs JETS Contract; Manis A., HX5 – Jacobs JETS Contract, NASA Johnson Space Center; Gates D., Jacobs Technology, NASA Johnson Space Center, Orbital Debris Quarterly News, 2018; “NASA ODPO's Large Constellation Study,” https://www.orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/quarterly-news/pdfs/odqnv22i3.pdf
Cascading debris collapses satellites.
Kessler et al., 18 Donald J. Kessler* American astrophysicist and former NASA scientist known for his studies regarding space debris. Kessler has received numerous awards for his pioneering work, the most recent being the 2010 Dirk Brower Award for his half-century career in astrodynamics. Dr. Holder Krag Head of the Space Debris Office at the European Space Agency and has been a Space Debris Analyst in the Space Debris Office since 2006. Asher Isbrucker*, Writer and Video Producer; 11-2-2018; "Kessler Syndrome: What Happens When Satellites Collide," Medium, https://asherkaye.medium.com/kessler-syndrome-what-happens-when-satellites-collide-1b571ca3c47e
Government satellites monitor key climate change statistics
Mulhernnov 20 – Owen Mulhern is a biologist with a specialisation in image analysis and a passion for satellite imaging. His previous work involved 3 dimensional brain reconstructions developing new algorithms for image processing. He is now focused on bringing powerful visualisations of the current state of our climate to life as Data Science Team Lead.
(Owen Mulhernnov, 9/20/2020, "How Satellites Help Tackle Climate Change," Earth.Org - Past | Present | Future, https://earth.org/data_visualization/how-satellites-help-tackle-climate-change/)
This is already working to decrease deforestation and carbon emissions through policy
FAO ’15 (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “World deforestation slows down as more forests are better managed,” 7 September 2015, http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/326911/icode/)
Warming, without these sattelites, causes extinction
Klein 14(Naomi Klein, award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, former Miliband Fellow at the London School of Economics, member of the board of directors of 350.org), This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, pp. 12-14
Collisions with early warning satellites causes miscalc and goes nuclear – magnified by the Kessler effect
Blatt 20 Talia, joint concentration in Social Studies and Integrative Biology at Harvard, specialization in East Asian geopolitics and security issues “Anti-Satellite Weapons and the Emerging Space Arms Race,” Harvard International Review, May 26, 2020, https://hir.harvard.edu/anti-satellite-weapons-and-the-emerging-space-arms-race/
Nuclear war causes extinction
Starr 15 Steven Starr 2015 Ratical. Steven Starr is the director of the University of Missouri’s Clinical Laboratory Science Program, as well as a senior scientist at the Physicians for Social Responsibility. He has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the Strategic Arms Reduction (STAR) website of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. https://ratical.org/radiation/NuclearExtinction/StevenStarr022815.html