Australia will work with other nations to develop an international code of conduct for behavior in outer space backing a proposal by the European Union.

Australia's participation was announced January 18 by foreign minister Kevin Rudd. The U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton also announced Tuesday that the U.S. would back the international code of conduct for outer space but only if the code doesn't hinder U.S. national security efforts. Clinton agreed that space junk and what she calls "irresponsible actors" are threats to work and space and an international agreement is the best way to stop such threats.

"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," Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said in a statement. ''The situation is made more urgent by the fact several countries are developing weapons systems to destroy satellites."

The International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities was first submitted to a 2009 European Union disbarment conference. NASA estimates that there are as many as 22,000 pieces of space junk as big as a softball orbiting Earth and more than 500,000 bigger than a marble. This debris cloud is getting bigger as humanity launches more satellites and begins private ventures into space.

The problem of space debris has captured international interest after a series of high-profile satellite crashes. Last week, Russia's Mars probe Phobos-Grunt crashed to Earth after orbiting the planet for two months. Last January 13, the International Space Station missed a soft-ball sized piece of space debris. In September 2011, NASA's UARS satellite caught mainstream interest when it crashed in the Pacific Ocean. Germany's defunct ROSAT satellite re-entered Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean in October.

Space junk isn't the only point of interest in the proposed Code of Conduct. The code of conduct will also tackle the problem of satellite destroying weapons. According to a 2008 U.S. diplomatic cable a large portion of the debris is caused by Chinese anti-satellite weapons tests.

A spokeswoman for the Chinese embassy told the Sydney Morning Herald that the Chinese government adhered to the use of space for ''peaceful purposes''. ''China will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space.''