Fourth European Conference On Space Debris To Address Key Issues

SPACE TRAVEL

Two large fragments of a Delta second stage which re-entered the Earth�s atmosphere on 22 January 1997 were recovered in Georgetown, Texas. The large object seen here is the main propellant tank made of stainless steel with a mass of more than 250 kg which landed only 45 metres from a farmer�s home. The full rocket was launched on 24 April 1996 and after delivering its payload to an orbit at 910 km altitude, the rocket stage was commanded to perform a propellant-depletion burn which moved the vehicle into a 207 x 860 km orbit. This manoeuvre reduced the orbital lifetime of the stage from several hundred years to only nine months. Credits: CORDES.

Darmstadt, Germany (ESA) Apr 08, 2005
The European Space Agency hosts the 4th European Conference on Space Debris, 18-20 April, at ESA's Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.

The conference, one of the world's most important events dedicated to space debris issues, is co-sponsored by the British, French, German and Italian space agencies (BNSC, CNES, DLR, ASI), the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), and is expected to attract over 200 leading experts from all over the world.

Space debris has recently been attracting increasing attention not only due to the growing recognition of the long-term need to protect the commercially valuable low-Earth and geosynchronous orbital zones (LEO and GEO), but also due to the direct threat that existing debris poses to current and future missions.

While commercial and scientific uses of space have expanded across a wide range of activities, including telecommunications, navigation, Earth observation and science, space debris has continued to accumulate, significantly threatening future missions.

Speakers at the conference will present results from research on space debris, assist in defining future directions for research, consolidate debris environment models, identify methods of debris mitigation, assess debris-related risks and their control, devise protective measures and discuss policy issues, regulations and legal aspects.

The conference will also promote the ongoing discussions taking place in a number of organisations, including the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) and the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS).

On 20 April a press conference will be held with an international panel of debris experts.

The conference will be followed immediately by the 23rd meeting of the IADC, which currently has 11 members, including its founders: ESA, NASA, the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos) and Japan (JAXA).

Experts will exchange results on space debris research, identify options for space debris mitigation, and discuss joint research activities.

The IADC meeting is for members only.

SPACE TRAVEL

Space Debris: Assessing The Risk

Darmstadt (SPX) Mar 24, 2005
Assessing the risk that space debris pose to operational spacecraft and satellites is a challenge and depends on whether you are worried about being hit by a known, tracked debris object or by an unknown object.

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