The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that over 40 companies, NGOs, and research institutions have signed the Zero Debris Charter at the Berlin International Airshow.
The Zero Debris Charter was first announced at the ESA Space Summit last November and aims to make future space missions space debris neutral by 2030.
To date, 12 European countries have signed the Zero Debris Charter, with over 100 organisations registering their intent to sign in the coming months,
Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director Generalm, commented: “It is critical to protect the future of our most valuable and crucial space assets by keeping Earth’s orbits clear from debris.
“By jointly signing the Zero Debris Charter, the diverse entities demonstrate global leadership in space debris mitigation and remediation.
“The European space sector leads by example, and by taking this step collectively, we gain a crucial momentum towards achieving Zero Debris by 2030.”
Growing space debris burden
In the past two years, more satellites have been launched than in the entire six decades of space exploration.
Without swift action to enhance the sustainability of space activities, the rapid increase in debris will increasingly threaten satellites and astronauts, potentially making some critical orbits unusable.
Holger Krag, ESA Head of Space Safety, explained: “In recent years, the number of debris in space has spiralled, increasing the risk of catastrophic damage to space assets.
“Today, as a united community, we are sending a strong signal that the space sector is ready to act.
“The Zero Debris community is committed to getting hands-on with debris mitigation standards and technologies to make the clean and sustainable use of space a reality.”
ESA’s commitment to tacking space junk
At its 2022 Ministerial Conference, ESA was encouraged by Member States to adopt a ‘Zero Debris’ approach for its missions and to inspire others to do the same, aiming to position Europe as a leader in sustainability both on Earth and in space while maintaining industry competitiveness.
ESA’s Zero Debris initiative aims to make its missions debris-neutral by 2030 through revised internal space debris mitigation requirements supported by technology from the Space Safety Programme.
The Zero Debris Charter, developed by over 40 space actors and facilitated by ESA’s ‘Protection of Space Assets’ Accelerator, outlines high-level principles and targets to achieve Zero Debris.
More signing opportunities for this Charter will be available during Industry Space Days and other events.
These principles and goals are being translated into actionable, measurable technical targets, with new technologies being developed to meet the ambitious Zero Debris objectives.
