Aspects of living with space debris: current challenges, trends and achievements

Speaker: Tim Flohrer, Head of the ESA Space Debris Office

Today’s evolution of the space debris environment raises concerns on the long-term sustainability of using space as a resource. Space debris is a major safety issue for operational spacecraft. It can also become a risk to persons and property on Earth in cases of uncontrolled re-entry events.

Protecting our infrastructure is the aim of several ESA activities in recognizing the safety aspects of missions and the importance of sustainable utilization of space as an integral part of society. At ESA’s Space Debris Office we provide support to missions in all phases on space debris matters –from the early design considerations to operational collision avoidance to post mission disposal. Our most recent challenge results from the revolutionary transition in the use of orbital regions through large constellations and the acceleration of the number of small satellites in the space traffic.

In the lecture we will introduce space debris, and how we derive a situation picture through observation and modelling the spacedebris environment. We will address aspects of designing and operating spacecraft in compliance with the space debris mitigation measures, and on how ESA tools can help you in your project. Special attention will be at aspects of larger constellations. We will introduce ESA’s Space Safety Programme, with special focus on current technology needs addressing space debris, such as the small missions DRACO (Destructive Re-entry Assessment Container Object), VISDOMS (Verification of In-Situ Debris Optical Monitoring from Space), and the projects CREAM (Collision Risk Estimation and Automated Mitigation) and laser tracking. We will also talk about core technology activities that are ongoing or planned, such as addressing risk modelling, data acquisition, and environment consequence analyses and capacity management. Finally, we will show how ESA’s zero debris approach aims to totally stop the generation of debris in valuable orbits by 2030.

* This event is hosted by the Space Department, not by Artemis.