Australia and America have decided that Europe’s moves against the half-a-million items of space junk might be a good thing.

Australia’s participation was announced January 18 (Australian time) by foreign minister Kevin Rudd, while Space.com reports that Hilary Clinton issued a statement on January 17 (US time).

Australia’s Kevin Rudd stated that "Everything from aircraft and ship navigation, to electronic commerce, communications, climate monitoring and disaster management, not to mention many of our defence systems, all rely on satellites," noting that the development of space weapons systems is also a threat.

The participation of the world’s major space power is probably more important than Australia’s endorsement, and it will still be some time before the discussions yield any concrete outcome, since all that’s happened so far is a couple more parties have agreed to join discussions.

And America remains firm that the current European proposals would have to be modified before it signs anything. “"As we begin this work, the United States has made clear to our partners that we will not enter into a code of conduct that in any way constrains our national security-related activities in space or our ability to protect the United States and our allies," Space.com quotes Clinton as saying.

On January 13, some debris passed close by the International Space Station after being tracked since last year. ®

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