IADC space debris mitigation guidelines
Debris mitigation rules adopted in 2002 by the coordination committee of space agencies, including the 25-year rule for leaving low Earth orbit after the mission ends.
No treaty forbids leaving a dead satellite in orbit: the discipline came from the space agencies themselves, gathered in the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee, IADC. Its guidelines come down to four moves: limit debris released during operations, prevent breakups by passivating tanks and batteries, avoid collisions, and clear the protected regions at end of mission. In low Earth orbit, the object should reenter the atmosphere within 25 years; in geostationary orbit, it should be raised above the useful ring. The 25-year figure is not a physical constant but a compromise, chosen because natural drag is enough below roughly 600 km. Their limit is their nature: these are voluntary rules that bind only when a national law or a license adopts them, which explains the stricter rules adopted since, and why an underwriter reads the license rather than the guideline.
The IADC guidelines were adopted by consensus on October 15, 2002, presented to the COPUOS Scientific and Technical Subcommittee in February 2003, then revised in September 2007. The United Nations drew its own guidelines from them, which the General Assembly endorsed in Resolution 62/217 of December 22, 2007, without making them binding.
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