NASA Procedural Requirements

NPR 8715.6E Effective Date: April 18, 2024 Expiration Date: April 18, 2029

Subject: Orbital Debris Mitigation

Responsible Office: Office of Safety and Mission Assurance

Preface

P.1 Purpose

a. This NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR) directive defines responsibilities and procedural requirements for the planning, implementation, and review of orbital debris mitigation measures for NASA-sponsored spaceflight activities, consistent with the National Space Policy, the United States (U.S.) Government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP), and NASA’s policy to protect the orbital space environment.

b. This revision updates orbital debris mitigation responsibilities for spaceflight activities, including those involving partnerships or spaceflight services, and reviews requirements for activities conducted under NASA’s authority. The document no longer addresses processes and standards for conjunction assessment and collision avoidance, which are now addressed in NPR 8079.1, NASA Spacecraft Conjunction Analysis and Collision Avoidance for Space Environment Protection.

P.2 Applicability

a. This NPR is applicable to NASA Headquarters and NASA Centers, including Component Facilities and Technical and Service Support Centers. This directive is applicable to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, only to the extent specified in the NASA/Caltech Prime Contract. This directive is applicable to other contractors, recipients of grants or cooperative agreements, or parties to other agreements only to the extent specified in contracts, grants or cooperative agreement, or other agreements.

b. Specifically, this NPR is applicable to organizations that develop, acquire, or operate spaceflight systems or services involving objects that exceed 130km (~70mi) in altitude and achieve or exceed Earth orbital velocity.

c. Supplemental guidance issued on earlier versions of this directive that were intended to except or clarify requirements do not apply to this revision as they have been considered and incorporated as warranted. It is the intent of this directive that all NASA programs and projects involved in spaceflight activities understand orbital debris mitigation responsibilities consistent with the National Space Policy and NASA Policy Directive (NPD) 8700.1, NASA’s Policy for Safety and Mission Success. However, this revision continues to limit the applicability of NASA-specific standards and review requirements to spaceflight activities conducted under NASA authority. See section 1.2 for more details.

d. In this directive, all mandatory actions (i.e., requirements) are denoted by statements containing the term "shall." The terms: "may" or "can" denote discretionary privilege or permission, "should" denotes a good practice and is recommended, but not required, "will" denotes expected outcome, and "are/is" denotes descriptive material.

e. In this directive, individuals responsible for the formulation and implementation of spaceflight systems, elements and acquired services are referred to as Project Managers. When such individuals have a different title (e.g., Program Managers or Principal Investigators), the responsibilities and procedural requirements defined for Project Managers apply to them.

f. In this directive, document citations are assumed to be the latest version, unless otherwise noted.

P.3 Authority

a. The National Aeronautics and Space Act, 51 U.S.C. § 20113.

b. National Space Policy of the United States of America, 2020.

c. U.S. Government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices, 2019.

d. NPD 8700.1, NASA’s Policy for Safety and Mission Success.

P.4 Applicable Documents and Forms

a. NASA-STD-8719.14, Process for Limiting Orbital Debris.

P.5 Measurement/Verification

Compliance with the requirements contained in this directive is monitored by the SMA Technical Authority with support from the Orbital Debris Program Office and is verified as part of selected life cycle reviews.

P.6 Cancellation

NPR 8715.6B, NASA Procedural Requirements for Limiting Orbital Debris and Evaluating the Meteoroid and Orbital Debris Environments, dated February 16, 2017.

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This document does not bind the public, except as authorized by law or as incorporated into a contract. This document is uncontrolled when printed. Check the NASA Online Directives Information System (NODIS) Library to verify that this is the correct version before use: https://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov.