A Minefield in Earth Orbit: How Space Debris Is Spinning Out of Control [Interactive]

Kathy Jones

Krista Fuentes

David Wright

David Wright, PhD is a senior scientist and co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). He is an expert on the technical aspects of arms control, particularly those related to missile defense, missile proliferation, space weapons, and space debris. Dr. Wright has worked for a number of years on projects to help train technical arms control experts in other countries, especially Russia and China. Prior to joining UCS in 1992, Dr. Wright was a senior research analyst with the Federation of American Scientists and served as an SSRC-MacArthur Fellow in the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University and worked as a research physicist from 1983 to 1988. He is also currently a research affiliate in the Program on Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. Dr. Wright has authored numerous articles and reports on arms control and international security. He is a co-author of the UCS/MIT Countermeasures report and The Physics of Space Security. Since 1990 he has been a primary organizer of the International Summer Symposiums on Science and World Affairs. These annual meetings help create an international community of scientists working on arms control and security issues. Dr. Wright is a fellow of the American Physical Society and was a co-recipient of the American Physical Society's 2001 Joseph A. Burton Forum Award for his arms control research and his work with international scientists.