Addressing gaps in cislunar orbital debris mitigation governance frameworks via norms of behavior

With an expected increase in cislunar space activity over the coming years, the sustainable growth and maintenance of the cislunar orbital environment will require a coordinated focus towards orbital debris mitigation. However, the additional complexities of debris behavior and spacecraft operations under cislunar dynamics are not reflected in the existing space governance landscape. This paper analyzes the applicability of key international treaties and United States national policies towards the mitigation of orbital debris in the cislunar domain, and proposes leveraging the culture of implicit best practices in the space sector to address major governance gaps. Our work delineates key gaps in coverage of the existing space governance framework, including the necessity of more specific technical standards for cislunar missions, changes to mission authorization regimes, and post-launch supervisory mechanisms. We find that flexible policy structures which can be quickly implemented and adapted to the changing cislunar environment are likely to be well-suited to addressing these gaps. We propose the use of norms of behavior, which are a form of self-governance that exist in many different industries and sectors, to begin addressing policy gaps implicitly before a surge of cislunar growth, with formal codification to follow. The role of debris risk considerations during the mission design process is highlighted, and the risks from more complex activities such as proximity operations are discussed. Pathways to minimize deviance from normalized behavior via incentive and deterrence strategies are additionally explored.