The European Space Agency (ESA) has urged the international space stakeholders to formulate a joint action plan to address the issue of space debris.
The joint action should be taken to ensure the long-term sustainability of spaceflight and keep Earth’s orbital environment clean.
It is estimated than more than 750,000 pieces of space debris are currently orbiting Earth.
The call was made at a recently concluded conference on space debris organised by ESA, an intergovernmental organisation of the EU member states.
Addressing the media on the ESA conference’s closing day in Darmstadt, Germany’s economic affairs and energy federal minister Brigitte Zypries said: “We require a coordinated global solution to what is, after all, a global problem that affects critical satellites delivering services to all of us.
“In order to enable innovative services for citizens and future developments in space, we must cooperate now to guarantee economically vital spaceflight.
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By GlobalData“We must sustain the dream of future exploration.”
New research on space debris has supported the safe disposal of retired satellites and rocket stages.
Commercial operators are also considering the vague challenges posed by the satellite megaconstellations.
Furthermore, various researchers have recommended the need to remove defunct satellites from orbit before they disintegrate and generate even more debris.
ESA debris office head Holger Krag said: “Only about 60% of the satellites that should be disposed of at the end of their missions under current guidelines are, in fact, properly managed.
“This means urgently developing the means for actively removing debris, targeting about ten large defunct satellites from orbit each year, beginning as soon as possible, starting later will not be nearly as effective.”
Under its Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme, ESA is currently involved in the development of software, technologies and systems to test a fully European surveillance network that will ensure independent data on space infrastructure.
