{"id":4676,"date":"2015-06-14T08:09:09","date_gmt":"2015-06-14T08:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=4676"},"modified":"2015-06-14T08:09:09","modified_gmt":"2015-06-14T08:09:09","slug":"esa-invites-ideas-to-cut-space-debris-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/esa-invites-ideas-to-cut-space-debris-creation\/","title":{"rendered":"ESA invites ideas to cut space debris creation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Space<\/a>
Space debris around Earth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tomorrow\u2019s satellites must evolve \u2013 because the space they operate in is changing. New regulations on cutting space debris are influencing satellite design, and ESA is reaching out to satellite builders.<\/p>\n

ESA\u2019s CleanSat technology programme is inviting European industry to submit ideas for \u2018building blocks\u2019 for next-generation low-orbit satellite platforms. They must comply with requirements for mitigating space debris while boosting platform performance and competitiveness.<\/p>\n

Low orbits up to 2000 km above our world form the most highly congested region of space, widely used for Earth observation and some types of telecom satellites.<\/p>\n

Growing populations of debris are a clear and present danger to valuable missions \u2013 moving at multiple kilometres per second, an incoming 1-cm nut can strike with the force of a hand grenade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A growing number of countries have introduced regulations to limit the production of fresh debris within the protected low orbits, typically intending satellites to be brought down or boosted out of here within 25 years of the end of their working lives while reducing the risk to people on the ground to less than 1 in 10 000.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

They also need to be \u2018passivated\u2019, removing leftover propellant and powering down batteries to avoid explosions.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo remain internationally competitive, future low-Earth orbit platforms will have to meet these national and international regulations,\u201d explains Luisa Innocenti, heading ESA\u2019s Clean Space initiative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt has become obvious that achieving this in a systematic way implies wholesale evolution of low-orbiting satellite platforms.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cSo what we plan through CleanSat is the development of new building blocks based on innovative technologies, carried out through a coordinated European approach to achieve economies of scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis coordination is only possible by bringing together space agencies, satellite builders and their subsystem and equipment suppliers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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