Description
Organisers: James Blake; co organisers: Katherine Courtney, Stuart Eves, Robert Massey, James Osborn, Marieta Valdivia Lefort, Phineas Whitlock
The recent explosion in commercial activity in the near-Earth environment has paved the way for rapid growth and innovation in the space industry. Access to low Earth orbit is more affordable than ever, and consequently a diverse and expansive range of payloads are currently operating in the space domain. As humanityโs footprint in space continues to grow, the need for a comprehensive and sustainable approach to space exploration and utilisation has never been more pressing. In this session, we aim to examine a holistic view of space sustainability, integrating technical, governance and societal perspectives to address the short- and long-term impacts of current trends on both the space and terrestrial environment. How do activities in space support our quality of life, and why are they accelerating? What are the key concerns associated with this acceleration, across all stages of the mission lifetime of a spacecraft? How do we best mitigate these concerns to ensure safe and sustainable use of space, in light of latest developments in technology? What regulatory frameworks are needed to enforce responsible behaviour in the space domain, and how do we most effectively facilitate the global, cross-sector and interdisciplinary discussions necessary to ensure these frameworks are built on strong foundations of technical evidence. Importantly, what does the future hold for the space industry? We welcome contributions from the NAM community exploring the complex challenges of maintaining space as a safe and accessible domain.
Don Kessler sounded the alarm with regard to space debris as early as 1978, but the international reaction to his seminal paper has been disappointingly slow.
There is now a general recognition amongst space-faring nations that action to address the debris problem is necessary on a number of fronts: technical, financial, and legal initiatives are all urgently required.
This summary paper...
The term โspace activitiesโ is a broad term that encompasses the use and exploration of the space environment by different users, whether these be satellite operators, astronomers, observers of cultural practises or others. The impacts of space activities also extend across many different Earth, space and human systems. Whilst some of these impacts are beneficial, others act counter to our...
With Earth's orbits set to become increasingly congested over the next several decades, the need for precise ephemeris of both active and defunct objects is crucial to ensure collision avoidance and the continued use of the space environment. Existing satellite tracking techniques have their advantages and limitations, including high costs, reduced precision at high orbital altitudes (radar),...
The rapid expansion of space activities has revolutionised technology and exploration but also poses significant sustainability challenges. Space debris, environmental impact, and inefficient resource use threaten the long-term viability of near-Earth operations. Emerging technologies offer solutions to these challenges, driving a shift toward responsible space practices.
This talk explores...
The dust (up to mm size) flux in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is a combination of natural cosmic dust and anthropogenic debris from spacecraft. As well as the threat of impacts on operational satellites from other satellites and defunct satellites, old upper stages etc., there is also a serious impact threat from such mm sized objects [1]. The contribution to the flux from space debris is held to be...
The safe and sustainable use of space requires a comprehensive understanding of the current populations of RSOs. However, the population of RSOs in Earth orbit is increasing rapidly, and while some of these objects are well characterised and tracked, a significant fraction of them have little to no tracking data. Often this is due to their small size which makes them difficult to observe via...
Colour light curves of resident space objects (RSOs) encapsulate distinctive features that can offer insights into an object's structure and design, making them an invaluable tool for classification and characterisation. We undertook the first large systematic colour survey of the GEO belt with the STING instrument in which we obtained full-night multi-colour light curves for 112 active...
Satellite launch traffic has rapidly increased following the advent of satellite mega-constellations, and the growing population of active satellites necessitates measures to ensure that space remains safe for long-term use. While major space organisations have independently implemented policies for space sustainability, it may yet be necessary to develop governmental policies for satellite...
Launch traffic has soared in recent years, as large satellite constellations have started to take shape. The astronomy community are rightly concerned about the current and future impact of ever-crowding orbits on the night sky. Satellites and debris can traverse through an astronomical field of interest during exposure, manifesting as streaks in the resulting image, often rendering the data...
The LEO environment is becoming increasingly crowded with mega-constellations that are necessitating an ever-increasing number of collision avoidance maneuverers. With the number of proposed constellations meaning a possible half a million satellites in Earth orbit within the next decade, methods for keeping track of these satellites and monitoring their condition is becoming of paramount...
The space environment, in particular the low Earth Orbit space environment, is fragile. As the variety of actors and uses cases expands, Earth orbit will only become more crowded by operational space objects and space debris. This has led to significant interest in the notion of space sustainability. The concept of sustainability comes from environmental governance and is the idea that...
The media (and the public) have a huge appetite for space and astronomy stories, and often call on astronomers with tried and tested communication skills to explain astronomical events and phenomena, the significance of new missions, results from solar system exploration, and (increasingly) space launches, commercial spaceflight firsts, re-entry events, fuel dumps, debris impacts on Earth, and...
The Zero Debris Community - consisting of spacecraft developers, operators, space agencies, researchers, and regulators - has recently released the Zero Debris Technical Booklet to accompany its Zero Debris Charter. The booklet is a compendium of the technologies required to prevent and reduce space debris, and to ensure that satellites are de-orbited in reasonable timeframes. It also covers...
The majority of space start-ups claim to be developing new, unique products for the market. This is predicated on a business approach which celebrates โnovelโ concepts without assessing how this compares to similar, historical ventures. And it is often down to a highly experienced professional to identify this repetition, and they are in short supply!
By approaching innovation and product...
