The other advantage of JB merely announcing the above as an “option” is that it lights a fire under the Program of Record...and makes it clear to all, including their Congressional backers/protectors, that when they publicly can’t Get There from Here, NASA will then, at the very least, move forward that will at the very least, as Robert says, move us visibly - and more cheaply- forward.

"The problem was not the length of the rule, he argued, but compliance with it. "

"The problem was not the length of the rule, he argued, but compliance with it. "

A subtlety left out in the in that above discussion is really the most important point (in my view): enforcement. As implied, the big LEO constellations end up having a naturally self-enforcing mechanism in the end to 'encourage' them to behave; not so everyone else. When a Russian derelict creamed an Iridium satellite, international law says Russia was responsible...but they simply flipped everyone the finger. Create an enforcement mechanism, and the problem starts fixing itself; don't ever bother creating an enforcement mechanism, and you force everyone to spend ever increasing amounts of money not only having to worry about their own stuff, but about everyone else's, as well. Since it only takes one bad actor - heck, only one negligent actor - to really mess things up - the focus needs to be coming up with with a workable enforcement mechanism, first and foremost.