News Excerpt:
The European Space Agency (ESA) and Twelve other nations have signed the Zero Debris Charter at the ESA/EU Space Council, solidifying their commitment to the long-term sustainability of human activities in Earth orbit.
What is the Zero Debris Charter?
- The Zero Debris Charter is an effort to become debris-neutral in space by 2030.
- It was unveiled at the ESA Space Summit in Seville meeting in November 2023.
- ESA’s Zero Debris approach is the ESA’s large-scale revision of its internal space debris mitigation requirements to become debris-neutral by 2030.
- Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom have all pledged to adhere to the charter.
- Over 100 organizations have also promised to sign the community-led endeavor in the coming months.
Significance of the charter:
- The Charter’s signing represents the first time countries have subscribed at the national level, boosting Europe as a leader in clean space while demonstrating widespread acceptance of the charter.
- It signals Europe’s unwavering commitment to be a global leader on space debris mitigation and remediation, fostering collective action of a large community of space actors from all around the world.
- The impact of the promise by these twelve countries on the sustainability of our future activities in space will be immense.
Space Debris:
- Space junk, or space debris, is any piece of machinery or debris left by humans in space.
- It can refer to big objects such as dead satellites that have failed or been left in orbit at the end of their mission.
- It can also refer to smaller things, like bits of debris or paint flecks that have fallen off a rocket.
Kessler syndrome:
- Kessler syndrome is an idea proposed by NASA scientist Donald Kessler in 1978.
- He said that if there was too much space junk in orbit, it could result in a chain reaction where more and more objects collide and create new space junk in the process, to the point where Earth's orbit becomes unusable.
