171740 20260603114407.0 doi 10.1016/j.actaastro.2026.04.026 sideral 149491 ART-2026-149491 eng Shi, Qian A system-of-systems approach to US space sustainability governance 2026 The rapid expansion of satellite deployments and commercial activity in low Earth orbit has outpaced existing policy frameworks, raising urgent concerns about long-term space sustainability. This work proposes and applies a system-of-systems-based framework to assess structural and operational gaps in the United States’ approach to orbital stewardship. The framework combines a knowledge graph method to map institutional relationships and oversight fragmentation, with system-of-systems design principles to characterize structural drivers of the sustainability challenge and guide policy development and prioritization. The resultant analysis covers three major governance gaps: weak enforcement, fragmented standards, and policy lag, and organizes efforts to close these gaps into the domains of space situational awareness, space traffic management, and space environment preservation. A taxonomy of sustainability metrics organized by aim, method, and scope is also provided to support future policy evaluation and capacity planning. Overall, this work serves as a foundation for systematic sustainability assessment and informed governance strategies that can support adaptive policy design, compliance planning, and long-term orbital stewardship. info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess All rights reserved http://www.europeana.eu/rights/rr-f/ info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Huang, Yinchien Arnas, David Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-8507-4679 DeLaurentis, Daniel 2005 595 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Matemática Aplicada Área Matemática Aplicada 247 (2026), 315-336 Acta astronaut. Acta Astronautica 0094-5765 4887019 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/171740/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 2733721 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/171740/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:171740 articulos driver 2026-06-03-11:04:23 ARTICLE