In recent years, there has been an increased focus on the environmental impacts of all things in our daily lives. With a focus on the European industry: space exploration and space proliferation has been seeing a ramp-up to a more sustainable and more responsibly targeted set of guidelines and standards to facilitate this.
With many research and development activities underway that are...
Ali Gülhana*, Thorn Schleutker a^, Patrik Seltnera, Pawel Goldyna, Niklas Wendela
a German Aerospace Center DLR
* Corresponding Author
^ Presenting Author
Abstract
The German Arospace Center DLR, one of the world’s most renown research institutions in the aerospace field, is committed to making the economy and society sustainable. For this purpose, DLR researches...
Reducing the risk of casualties from debris uncontrolled re-entry is of major interest. It requires advancing the knowledge of space debris degradation during their re-entry and strengthening the predictive capabilities of the high-fidelity and spacecraft-oriented numerical tools and material response solvers.
To fulfill this target, various materials have been identified to be analyzed and...
The re-entry of space systems into the Earth’s atmosphere can contain fragments which are able to survive the loads and heat experienced during re-entry into the atmosphere. These fragments have a probability to cause harm or damage to humans and the environment. The casualty risk is driven by the number and size of re-entering fragments. The objective of this activity is to enhance the...
Atmospheric re-entry of debris could pose significant risks. Debris fragments that survive and reach the surface of the Earth can represent an impact risk to people and property. A number of existing guidelines and regulations in several countries fix the probability at 10-4 as the threshold for the maximum allowed re-entry casualty risk. The French Space Operation Act (FSOA) is specific in...
Re-entry studies show that, for most spacecraft, the structure becomes hot before the forces become appreciable, resulting in a thermal model for fragmentation being adequate in many cases. However, for larger spacecraft, the higher mass being decelerated results in significantly higher forces being put through the joints, and this suggests that a thermomechanical model is necessary to capture...
Due to the multiplication of private actors in the space adventure, France has adopted in 2008 the French Space Operation Act (FSOA), which established a national regime of authorization and supervision for space activities. The Technical Regulations have clearly addressed the concepts of safety and sustainability of space activities, including the safety of people and property. Within this...
Material demise behaviour is critical to the casualty risk posed from re-entering space debris. However, the modelling of material demise in destructive re-entry tools, no matter how geometrically complex, tends to be very basic. The majority of tools model all materials as ‘equivalent metals’, where the assumption is that the material demise behaviour can be adequately captured using a...
This thesis presents a stochastic assessment of destructive re-entry for Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) spacecraft, addressing the growing concern over space debris and uncontrolled re-entries. The study aims to improve the understanding of uncertainties in calculating ground risk, thereby ensuring compliance with Space Debris Mitigation (SDM) requirements.
One critical challenge addressed in this...
In view of satellite technology advancements, a diverse array of satellites with varying objectives, from simple in-orbit demonstrations to complex missions, are being deployed in Earth's orbit. Recent decades have seen new space actors priorities cost, leading to advancements in equipment miniaturization and resource optimization. This trend, however, has contributed to an increase in orbital...
Failure prognostics has become more and more essential in the context of large constellations operations, where the complexity of the overall system and the service requirements pose several operational challenges. The possibility to detect early symptoms of incipient failures and predict the expected Remaining Useful Life reduces the need for urgent and critical operations and the risk of...
Compliance with ESA’s Space Debris Mitigation Health Monitoring requirements can be achieved with existing artificial intelligence and automation software. As the industry addresses the immediate challenges of requirements implementation, health monitoring industry partners should shift their collective focus toward developing common metrics, data-sharing protocols, and performance indicators...
Orbital debris, coming in different sizes and orbits, amplifies the risks of orbital collisions with crewed and robotic spacecraft. Unexpected fragmentation events similar to the Resurs P break-up in highly populated low earth orbits threatens the EU space infrastructure.
There is a long-term need for green, interoperable and affordable space debris mitigation and remediation technologies. ...
Space traffic has grown exponentially with new, innovative companies launching thousands of satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO). The number of spacecrafts has grown from 800 in 2019 to 5000 in 2022 and has doubled in one year up to more than 10 000 active satellites in orbit in 2023. This exponential growth must not lead to a disaster and the ESA Zero Debris initiative liaise as a meaningful...
Increasing the accuracy and quantifying the uncertainty of space surveillance data is critical to minimising operator overheads and maximising the effectiveness of Collision Avoidance Maneuvers (CAMs). Tracking aids are a major part of this. Here, we present a new standard for required retroreflectivity for passive tracking aids to become interoperable with laser ranging stations in a...
Since the dawn of the space exploration, the number of objects orbiting the Earth has exponentially grown. In the next decades, with the emergence of new actors and the commercial exploitation of the Space, a population in the order of several hundreds of thousands of satellites is foreseen, with circa 75% of them being active objects. In this scenario, manual on-ground decision-making...
With the increase of anthropogenic space objects, space traffic management is becoming more crucial to space sustainability. In line with ESA’s Zeros Debris approach, in-orbit collision avoidance (COLA) has become an integral part of almost every Low Earth Orbit mission. However, it is also important to consider in the maneuver decision the socio-economic impact of those satellites on...
The ongoing Smallsat (r)evolution related to strongly increasing numbers of launches, failures and reduced sizes, raises issues regarding the detection and identification of space objects for the overall Space Situational Awareness (SSA), future Space Traffic Management (STM) but also for the individual spacecraft operators themselves. This talk gives a brief overview describing the challenges...
In alignment with the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Zero Debris Approach, a series of key initiatives are being launched to advance space sustainability. This presentation aims to highlight the core objectives of the Zero Debris Approach, focusing particularly on the current and upcoming activities at the platform level. These initiatives include the development of platform evolutions designed...
With an increasing number of CubeSats in LEO, the need for sustainable practices for these spacecraft becomes increasingly critical. This presentation outlines part of our roadmap for transitioning CubeSats to zero debris by 2030, aligning with global space sustainability goals and minimizing disruptions to the CubeSat development mindset. A key focus will be a trade-off analysis performed to...
Amazon’s Project Kuiper is a planned Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite broadband network that will use a constellation of 3232 satellites to provide fast, affordable connectivity to unserved and underserved communities globally. In developing a large constellation, it is necessary to consider space sustainability as a key factor during the design process – not only because it protects the space...
Abstract – OPS-SAT-1 EOL
The OPS-SAT-1 spacecraft, an innovative CubeSat mission launched on December 18, 2019, by the European Space Agency (ESA), successfully demonstrated advanced in-orbit technology until its reentry on May 22, 2024. This presentation offers an overview of the satellite’s final weeks of operations, focusing on onboard telemetry analysis, the impact of anomalies,...
Regulations for the deorbiting of satellites after their end-of-business are getting more stringent across all space fairing nations. In compliance with these new regulations, HPS offers a family of dragsail systems with the name ADEO that allow passive deorbiting of satellites by using the residual atmosphere in LEO. The current ADEO family consists of the ADEO-P (1.7 m²), ADEO-C (3.4 m²),...
Recent regulatory changes mandate that spacecraft must possess reliable deorbiting capabilities, requiring all subsystems to remain operational after extended periods in space. Ensuring high reliability presents significant challenges for manufacturers due to time and budget constraints. Astrobrake's simple and spacecraft-independent design inherently ensures high reliability. However,...
The current trend and interest in a sustainable space crystallises the efforts of European space actors. One of the key themes of the ESA Cleanspace directives and French Space Operations Act from CNES includes the development of end-of-life technologies to minimize the number of debris after completion of the mission.
The introduction of space laws, guidelines and charter to reduce the...
In the highly populated LEO region the controlled disposal of satellites, upper rocket bodies and interstages at the end of their life cycle requires effective propulsion systems. This presentation introduces the development of a novel Solid Propulsion System designed for deorbitation manoeuvres, utilizing an aluminium-free propellant Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) integrated with a dedicated Thrust...
InSpacePropulsion Technologies (ISPTech) is a spin-off from the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) Institute of Space Propulsion in Lampoldshausen. The Institute has more than a decade of experience in green propellant research and green propulsion hardware development. Based on this knowledge, in-house thruster and propulsion hardware development was pushed forward. Currently, two promising...
DARK: D eorbit AR kadia’s K it
Abstract
Arkadia Space develops and manufactures a line of novel monopropellant and bipropellant propulsion systems based on 98% hydrogen peroxide (HTP). A truly green propellant, offering high performance at a fraction of the cost when compared to current hydrazine-based systems.
This innovative technology is a result of successful...
The increasing number of space debris in the LEO orbits imposes a significant threat for the space environment. Therefore, mitigation and remedial measures taken against further space debris creation have gained significant importance to provide a safe and sustainable space environment.
D-Orbit’s DeOrbiting Kit (DOK) is an independent autonomous system for LEO missions which will...
The electrical passivation presentation will provide a rationale for the necessity of electrical passivation and its most common current solutions implemented in the PCDUs. We will also discuss the key challenges associated with the implementation of electrical passivation and examine the market's demands for it in the near future and the possible evolution of electrical passivation solutions...
Working towards a sustainable future in space requires a multifaceted approach. To realise ESA’s Zero Debris goals, we need to develop compliant spacecraft platforms and demonstrate removal services in parallel. While improving the ability of satellites to remove themselves from orbit is still a key pillar of these efforts, there is a growing need to develop services and technologies to remove...
MICE (Mechanical Interface for Capturing at End-of-Life) is a single-part passive grapple fixture designed for enabling the capture and de-orbiting of satellites at their End-of-Life or in a premature malfunction by a Servicing Spacecraft in case the satellites cannot deorbit by themselves.
The latest version of MICE was the Qualification Model (MICE-Q) developed and qualified in 2023 for the...
The qualification of "2D" and "3D" navigation markers against HPCM environmental requirements was successfully completed by the end of 2023. Following this achievement, the industrialization phase has commenced, with ADM producing four sets of markers for the CRISTAL and LSTM HPCM missions. These markers, comprising one 3D marker and 20 2D markers per set, will be installed on the PFM and FM2...
ADM is planning to establish an ESA-recognized GNC test facility at its premises. The facility would use up the remarkable floor space and internal height of the ADM new project building. The design of this facility will be developed with input from Hungarian and European GNC experts, aiming to meet the needs of the European space industry and to complement existing testing capabilities. Key...
The ESA Space Debris Mitigation Policy was updated in October 2023 accounting for the new ESA Zero Debris Approach. The new ESA Space Debris Mitigation standard (ESSB-ST-U-007, which exceeds the previous standard ECSS-U-AS-10C Rev.2) specifies design and operational measures that a mission needs to adopt through its lifetime to prevent space debris release and proliferation, control system...
There is no doubt that we are experiencing an exponential increase on the number of satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Large constellations of satellites like Starlink, OneWeb, Amazon Kuiper, G60 from Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), and many others are planning to provide low-latency and high speed connectivity to the whole world. They have already surpassed the rest of active...
SatHub is one of the four hubs of the IAU Centre for the protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (IAU CPS). SatHub focuses on observation campaigns, brightness data analysis and software curation to improve our understanding of the impact of satellite constellations on astronomy and observers worldwide. That includes online services hosted in concert with...
The recent addition of large constellations of medium-sized satellites to LEO, and the near-term availability of new launch capabilities (e.g. SpaceX Starship) is indicative of a trend towards a greater number of larger-sized satellites that would be detrimental to dark-sky preservation efforts, and problematic for ground-based astronomy.
Light curve simulators, originally developed for the...
The Square Kilometre Array Observatory has the two largest radio telescopes in the world under construction. Radio astronomy has long enjoyed statutory protection in the form of longstanding ITU radiofrequency spectrum allocation and the establishment of Radio Quiet Zones by national authorities. This latter protection works well for terrestrial conflicts, and allows modern radioastronomy to...
