Bhavya Lal, associate administrator for the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) at NASA, said that orbital debris is one of the great challenges of our era. "Maintaining our ability to use space is critical to our economy, our national security, and our nation's science and technology enterprise," Lal said in a statement. �� Orbital Debris: NASA To Fund Three Studies To Understand Growing Problem of Space Junk.