Speaker
Description
The broad topic of space sustainability is increasingly being discussed within the space sector, especially in Europe, in part thanks to regulations on sustainability reporting and the upcoming European Space Law. Nevertheless, companies nowadays have a tendency to put the emphasis on a single particular chosen aspect of sustainability (e.g. environmental impacts, dark and quiet skies considerations, space debris limitation) over others during their design phase. A lack of global knowledge is often given as an explanation for this cherry-picking, particularly within small to medium companies with human limited resources.
To fill this knowledge and resource gap, eSpace - EPFL Space Center developed a first version of its Handbook on Sustainable Mission Design, which is further detailed in this presentation. Publicly available , the handbook provides a holistic view on the major aspects to take into account when designing the space segment of a new mission: from Life Cycle Assessment considerations to general ecodesign concepts and specific propulsion, hardware and operations best practices. It highlights concisely which aspects ought to be assessed during the design phase and how they affect the rest of the space mission. The handbook is aimed at engineers, as well as managers who may not have a complete overview on all the best practices that should be followed.
This presentation aims to give an overview on the contents of the handbook and on how it could be used , as well as opening up discussions on suggestions for additional topics and improvements. Furthermore, it provides an overview of ongoing initiatives and technologies within the space sector and at EPFL, aiding future sustainable design practices that will gradually be integrated to the handbook’s updates.
