Clean Space Days 2026

29 Jun 2026, 14:00 → 3 Jul 2026, 14:30 Europe/Amsterdam

Clean Space Days 2026: Pioneering Sustainable Space Solutions

 

We, ESA’s Clean Space team, are proud to invite you to join the 2026 Clean Space Days, which will take place from June 29th to July 3rd at ESTEC, in The Netherlands. This event is a must-attend gathering for all space professionals and enthusiasts dedicated to the sustainability of space mission. 

 

This five-day event will focus on the advancements in the fields of eco-design, zero debris and in-orbit servicing. Alongside inspiring presentations, you’ll have the chance to connect with fellow space enthusiasts and dive into a range of engaging workshops.

Call for Abstracts 

We invite you to submit abstracts on the following topics: 

 

Eco Design:

• Simplified LCA
• Methodology and Tools
• Greener Technologies
• Environmental Impacts of Launch and Reentry (Marine and Atmospheric impact)

 

Zero Debris:

• Zero Debris Platforms

• Space Debris Mitigation requirements compliance & evolution

• Design for Demise

• Design for Removal

• Design for Robustness

• Dark and Quiet Skies

• Deorbiting & Passivation Technologies 

• Collision Risk Management

• Enhanced health monitoring & reliability

 

In-Space Servicing, Assembling and Manufacturing:

• European Strategy and ISAM coordination
• Space Safety Missions Preparation
• Space Safety Missions Implementation
• In-Space Logistic Missions Support
• Technologies for Robotics, GNC and Interfaces
•  Legal Aspects
• Future Use Cases and Market investigation

 

Submit your abstract for the CSD 2026 here.

 

If your abstract is selected, you will be invited to give a presentation during the clean space days 2026 (no paper needed). 

 

Please note the following deadlines:

 

• 15 April 2026: Abstract submission deadline 
• May 2026: Announcement of the abstracts selected
• 15 May 2026: Event Registration closed
• 29 May 2026: Event Registration confirmed
• 29 - 3 June/ July 2026: Presentations at CSD 2026 

Side-events

 

• Clean Space Networking Dinner 
  Date: Tuesday 30th June 2026
  Location: ESTEC Restaurant 
  Details: Connect with peers, forge new partnerships, and discuss the day's insights in a relaxed atmosphere. 
• Poster Session & Networking Event 
  Date: Thursday 2nd July 2026 
  Location: ESTEC 
  Details: Explore cutting-edge research and projects at our poster session. This interactive event is the perfect place to exchange ideas and spark collaborations over light refreshments.

Registration

 

Participation is free of charge. However, registration is required. If you wish to attend the event, please register here. 

 

Don't miss this opportunity to contribute to the global effort for sustainable space activities. Register now for the Clean Space Days 2026 and join us at ESTEC for this exciting event! 

ESA Acceleration Days 2026 privacy notice.pdf

OPS-SM - Clean Space Days Privacy Notice.pdf

Monday 29 June

General: Welcome

15:30 Coffee Break

Eco-Design: Introduction to Ecodesign

1 Ecodesign Introduction

Speaker: Sara Morales Serrano (ESA)

ISAM: European Strategy and Coordination

Zero Debris: Enhanced health monitoring & reliability

2 Host-independent Orbital Whereabout Locator with Dual-Channel GNSS receiver-based attitude information

The OWL (Orbital Whereabout Locator) is a flight-proven VHF beacon and tracking unit developed to provide continuous transmission of satellite identification, key telemetry and GNSS-based position information. The original OWL design was tailored to CubeSat missions and has gained flight heritage on board multiple satellites. Building on this heritage, the current development aims to extend the OWL concept toward a more versatile subsystem that can be integrated into both CubeSats and larger satellite platforms. The new configuration also incorporates additional onboard sensors to improve the accuracy and robustness of the information provided by the unit, and can be equipped with a body-mounted solar array to further enhance operational autonomy. In this way, the development preserves the original core functionality of OWL while broadening its applicability and operational relevance.

The new version of the system includes multiple onboard sensors, such as an IMU, magnetometer, and, optionally, a TID sensor. These sensors continuously collect data, which are packaged into periodic beacon messages transmitted via an omnidirectional VHF radio link. The sensor sampling rate and beacon transmission interval are configurable. The OWL supports optional two-way communication with the host satellite via UART, allowing the host to send telemetry and health data and to request information (e.g., GNSS-based position data). It can also operate independently via a dedicated ground station network providing tracking and telemetry data through a real-time web service interface. The infrastructure can be complemented by mobile ground station units for special mission scenarios.

Most importantly, the new OWL delivers continuous position and velocity telemetry from a dual-antenna, multi-constellation GNSS subsystem, enhanced through a high-performance onboard EKF estimator. Based on this technology, the functionality of the OWL is also being extended with precise attitude determination. This independent navigation source supports the following space debris mitigation use cases:

Space Traffic Management (STM) and Regulatory Compliance: Provides autonomous orbit determination for real-time traceability and collision avoidance. Outputs are compatible with standardized Conjunction Data Messages (CDM), supporting operator response to emerging STM frameworks. Compliance with FCC and ITU orbit filing obligations can be facilitated where applicable.

End-of-Life and Disposal Assurance: PVT data provides verifiable confirmation of de-orbit manoeuvres or controlled re-entry, supporting compliance with ESA Clean Space policy, ECSS debris mitigation standards, and international guidelines. Telemetry continuity ensures operators can demonstrate due diligence in disposal planning, anomaly cases, and liability assessments.

Deorbit Assurance: Provides critical information even following a critical AOCS failure resulting in complete loss of attitude control authority. This facilitates end-of-life burns for safe disposal, contributing to compliance with post-mission deorbit policies and Clean Space objectives.

The new OWL version combines enhanced onboard sensors for position and attitude determination, multiple available beacon communication options, and a panel-format structure, emphasizing modularity and configurability across six configurations for different mission requirements. An additional goal of this activity is to secure a place for the enhanced OWL module on ESA’s DRACO mission (Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Objects), which offers a unique opportunity to demonstrate OWL’s capabilities and thereby enhance its market appeal and technological credibility.

Speaker: Alexandra Széll (C3S LLC)

3 Configurable Camera System as an Enabler of Enhanced Spacecraft Health Monitoring for Zero Debris Space Environments

Achieving zero debris objectives requires spacecraft operations to have a well-informed decision chain throughout the mission lifecycle - from verifying successful deployment of spacecraft subsystems, through monitoring structural integrity during operations, or even confirming readiness for controlled end-of-life disposal. Visual inspection data provides a really versatible, direct and intuitive sources of information for such assessments, even though lately inspection cameras have growns in popularity, yet the dedicated on-board imaging for health monitoring purposes remains underutilised, in part due to the perceived cost and complexity of qualifying mission-specific camera hardware.

The Scanway Camera System (SCS) is a configurable, flight-proven camera system developed to lower the barrier to integrating health monitoring imaging into spacecraft and launch vehicle missions. The SCS product line aims to offer scalable complexity, ranging from single camera units for simple inspection through multi-camera acquisition systems to smart camera configurations with onboard data processing and AI capabilities. The modular architecture allows mission-specific tailoring of imaging parameters, optical configuration, and data handling approach tailored to the client specifications, enabling a single platform family to serve use cases as diverse as deployment event verification, thermal protection assessment, post-anomaly damage inspection, and proximity situational awareness.

The system has achieved TRL 9 through successful in-orbit operation, including visual documentation of launcher stage events during the YPSat mission aboard Ariane 6 and ongoing on-orbit demonstration on the STAR VIBE satellite. These missions have validated the system’s stability, imaging performance, and data handling in the space environment.

The paper discusses how the availability of a flight-qualified, reconfigurable vision system can contribute to zero debris efforts by enabling routine visual health assessment as a standard spacecraft function rather than a bespoke payload development, and how the resulting situational awareness at the individual spacecraft level supports more confident compliance with post-mission disposal requirements.

Speaker: Michał Kos (Scanway S.A.)

4 Closing the Operator's Information Gap: An In-Situ MMOD Digital Twin for Independent Structural Health Monitoring

Satellite operators currently have no independent means of verifying the structural condition of their spacecraft after launch. Pre-launch MMOD risk assessments are computed from manufacturer-supplied CAD models and never updated by in-orbit measurement. Once on orbit, visibility into cumulative micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) damage is limited to whatever telemetry the satellite chooses to report — a channel designed and certified by the very party whose contractual liability is at stake. This information asymmetry is most acute in the sub-centimeter debris regime: with over 130 million particles smaller than 1 cm in Earth orbit and no ground-based radar capable of tracking them, operators accumulate structural risk that is invisible by construction.
This paper presents the micro-Y MMOD Digital Twin (MMOD-DT), a four-layer continuously updated computational system designed to close this gap through operator-owned, in-situ measurement. Its physical foundation is the NCAS (Nickel-Chromium-Aluminium-Silicon) resistive film sensor — a 65-micrometer multilayer film printed on Kapton, integrable into any spacecraft surface including MLI blankets, solar panel substrates, Whipple shield outer walls, and radiator facesheets. The sensor records cumulative structural degradation through persistent resistive change upon hypervelocity impact, providing continuous surface coverage that is radiation-tolerant beyond 100 kRad and immune to the thermal and lighting transients affecting optical and piezoelectric alternatives.
The MMOD-DT integrates NCAS telemetry with a STENVI-compliant static geometric core (L1), a real-time dynamic satellite state engine (L2), and a live space situational awareness environment feed (L3). A Bayesian update engine (L4) accumulates validated impact events to produce a continuously refined, satellite-specific posterior over the actual debris flux — systematically narrowing the 2–5× uncertainty inherent in pre-launch environment models. The output is a time-varying probability of critical damage P_c(t): an auditable, timestamped structural evidence record across the full mission lifetime.
This architecture addresses five in-orbit information gaps with direct implications for spacecraft health monitoring and collision risk management: absence of real-time impact confirmation, reliance on static pre-launch risk models, inability to independently verify as-built shielding, lack of a cumulative damage record for end-of-life decisions, and environment model uncertainty that operational experience currently never reduces.
Beyond individual satellites, aggregated NCAS data across a fleet constitutes the most comprehensive in-situ characterization of the sub-centimeter debris flux ever assembled — contributing directly to the empirical calibration of next-generation environment models such as ORDEM and MASTER, and to the evidentiary foundations of space sustainability policy.
The NCAS sensor is currently at TRL 4. A flight demonstration is planned for Q4 2026, with TRL 6 certification targeted for Q1 2027. This paper presents the system architecture, sensor operating principle, and Digital Twin computational framework, and discusses implications for spacecraft health monitoring standards and the broader space sustainability ecosystem.

Speaker: Gilberto Romboli (Micro-Y)

5 Operationalising PSD for Clean Space: Reliability Assumptions and Open Questions

The introduction of a $\ge90\%$ Probability of Successful Disposal (PSD) requirement by the European Space Agency marks a significant advancement in support of space debris mitigation and Clean Space objectives. At the same time, it raises important questions regarding its consistent interpretation and practical implementation. While the requirement is formally defined in ESSB-ST-U-007, several aspects remain open when translated into system engineering practices and reliability modelling.

One key issue concerns the definition of mission time within the reliability assessment. The current wording suggests coverage up to the end of disposal operations, potentially encompassing all mission phases from launch onwards. However, established reliability engineering practices typically treat launch separately due to differences in qualification approaches and responsibility boundaries. This distinction may become less clear for New Space missions, where heritage is limited and qualification strategies are evolving. Further clarification is needed regarding the scope of PSD. In particular, questions arise as to whether consumables (e.g., residual propellant), passivation measures, and accidental break-up mechanisms should be explicitly included in the modelling. Additionally, emerging considerations such as dark and quiet sky constraints prompt discussion on whether these should be incorporated within PSD or treated as complementary requirements. The timing and criteria for disposal decision-making introduce further complexity. It remains questionable to what extent factors such as accumulated degradation, loss of redundancy, in-flight anomalies, or operation beyond the nominal design lifetime should be reflected in PSD assessments at the point when disposal is initiated (agreed lifetime or lifetime extension). From a modelling perspective, exponential reliability models are widely used and remain appropriate for systems with a constant failure rate. However, their applicability may be limited in scenarios involving critical items and extended mission phases or life extensions, where increasing failure rates over time should be accounted for (e.g., wear-out, mechanical, and propulsion items). Finally, the role of software in enabling successful disposal, including autonomy and fault management, raises the question of how software-related failures should be represented within the PSD framework.

Rather than proposing definitive interpretations, this contribution identifies key areas requiring clarification and encourages a structured exchange within the community. The objective is to support a consistent, technically sound, and operationally practicable understanding of PSD aligned with both engineering realities and Clean Space ambitions.

Speaker: Paul-Remo Wagner (Matrisk GmbH)

Tuesday 30 June

Eco-Design: ESA Ecodesign Policy Implementation Working Instructions

6 ESA Ecodesign Policy Implementation Working Instructions

Speakers: Estefania Padilla Gutierrez (ESA (ESOC)), Sara Morales Serrano (ESA)

ISAM: Space Safety Mission Preparation

Zero Debris: Zero Debris Platform activities

7 ESA Introduction on Zero Debris Platforms

Introduction to Zero Debris Platforms activities.

Speaker: Roxane Josses (ESA)

8 Outcome of Phase 1 of the Zero Debris Large LEO Platforms Study

As the European space sector moves toward the Zero Debris ambition, understanding the implications of new debris mitigation requirements on future platforms is an essential step toward defining practical implementation strategies.
In light of this framework, the present work outlines the outcomes of Phase 1 of the Zero Debris Study, performed for ESA by Thales Alenia Space, with the objective of assessing the impact of ESA’s proposed Zero Debris requirements on large LEO platforms.
Three large LEO platforms currently used in Thales Alenia Space programmes were chosen as the objects of the study. Phase 1 activities focused on evaluating system and subsystem level feasible compliance paths, identifying the main technical drivers for further consolidation activities, and assessing the most critical contributors to ground causality risk through probabilistic re-entry analyses. In parallel, trade-off studies were carried out to investigate modular implementation options for controlled re-entry and demisability, considering their impact on platform architecture, performance, and integration. Additional activities addressed platform vulnerability to micro-meteoroids and orbital debris, providing an initial characterization of platform exposure and criticalities at equipment and system level. Furthermore, advanced health monitoring approaches were investigated, including the potential use of AI/ML-based prognostics to support earlier anomaly detection, degradation tracking, and improved end-of-life decision making.
Overall, Phase 1 established the technical basis for Phase 2 by identifying key design sensitivities, enabling technologies, and priority areas for further development toward the progressive implementation of Zero Debris requirements on future large LEO platforms.

Speakers: Mr Andrea Adriani (Thales Alenia Space), Riccardo Pellico (Thales Alenia Space)

9 Large LEO Spacecraft Platforms Evolution for Zero Debris Policy Implementation – Phase 1

The proposed presentation gives an overview of the results of the Zero Debris (ZD) Phase 1 study carried out by Airbus Defence and Space in 2024-2025. It was examined how to modify the Airbus large LEO platforms to meet the ESA Zero Debris requirements that will be applicable in 2030.
The first goal of the study was to critically review and consolidate the proposed space debris mitigation requirements and identify the associated design drivers as well as the potential technology gaps. The second goal was to identify needed technology developments and to establish a technical roadmap for LEO platforms to ensure they do not contribute to the growing problem of space debris in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The study goals were supported by the evaluation of 5 technical objectives: fully demisable platform (where the satellite burns up completely upon re-entry), modular controlled re-entry, improvement of system resilience, operations mitigating MMOD impacts and preparation of satellites for Active Debris Removal (ADR).
Three study case missions were considered during the study to better understand the impacts and challenges related to the ZD requirements. The selected missions were two real missions Cristal and LSTM and a hybrid satellite based on Cristal platform but with a different orbit and propulsion system. The missions represent different orbits, re-entry strategies, propulsion systems and payloads to give a broader view of the impacts.
Challenging requirements have been identified as well as technical gaps: the gaps are related to the availability of technical solutions but as well to the availability of methodologies and modelling tools for the assessment of the compliance to the Zero Debris requirements. This is applying most notably to break-up prediction, vulnerability assessment and fragmentation prediction following collisions with micro-meteoroids or orbital debris (MMOD) and to statistical demisability analysis.
Finally, a possible roadmap for implementation of the identified technologies on-board Airbus satellite platform is proposed. To improve demisability, the study suggests moving toward demisable components, such as aluminium-based reaction wheels and specialized hydrazine tanks. To enhance system resilience, the study team proposes the integration of monitoring cameras to detect collisions and the use of adapted shielding or accommodation to protect critical components required for end-of-life operations. Also new HW solutions to support passivation and ADR are proposed.
To conclude, the ZD study technical objectives and their status is presented. While the study has successfully achieved the technical objectives related to modular re-entry readiness and ADR compatibility, it has been shown that achieving a fully demisable platform and assessing MMOD impacts, including fragmentation risks, there remain significant challenges.

Speaker: Venla Viitanen

10 OHB's Large LEO Zero Debris Platform

With the low Earth orbit becoming increasingly occupied by spacecrafts as well as debris resulting from various spaceflight activities, the amount of space debris is steadily increasing. Following ESA's strategy to reduce space debris to zero starting 2030, the advancement of European large satellite platform products is mandated. OHB participated by upgrading its standard Earth Observation Platform (Eos) to be compliant to the evolution of the space debris mitigation requirements and additional technical objectives.

Eos, as OHB System AG’s (OHB’s) Standard Earth Observation Platform, envelopes the Copernicus specific implementation of the standard platform developments. The key feature of the Eos product line is to provide a common platform design providing high performance for earth observation applications. The Eos platform builds on common and well-established technologies, thereby providing the fast-track opportunities combined with low risks in platform adaptation to different mission needs.

As a result of the first phase of the activity, key technologies were identified, along with down selection of technologies to be developed in Phase 2 to TRL 6. System level impacts of the technologies were evaluated to a delta-SRR level, along with the consolidation and compliance of the proposed evolution of the space debris mitigation requirements.

Speaker: Kate Lahaie (OHB System AG)

11 Evolving European Small Satellite Platforms towards Zero Debris Compliance: System-Level Trade-offs, Technologies and Roadmap

The sustainability of the orbital environment has become an operational requirement in satellite system design. In the context of ESA’s Zero Debris policy, European industry is expected to minimize the creation of new debris while ensuring safe, reliable end-of-life disposal for future missions. This contribution presents the results of a system-level study on how European satellites based on SITAEL Empyreum (~200 kg) and PLATiNO-class (~350 kg) small multi-mission platforms can evolve to achieve Zero Debris compliance by 2030. The activity translates policy-level objectives into platform design solutions through a structured approach encompassing requirement consolidation, cross-disciplinary trade-offs, supplier consultation, and SRR-level platform definition. Three representative LEO mission scenarios were analysed to capture the range of disposal and operational challenges faced by small satellites, varying orbital parameters (400–600 km altitude; SSO and mid-inclination) as well as platform size and operational constraints (e.g., implications of constellation operations). Five Zero Debris technical objectives were addressed: design for demise, reliable disposal, health monitoring, collision-risk mitigation, and preparation for removal. The study indicates that full demisability is realistically achievable for the smaller platform class, whereas larger platforms require targeted design adaptations and further technology maturation, including demisable tanks and actuators. Reliable disposal emerges as a key driver. Passive or semi-passive de-orbit solutions, such as electrostatic tethers, are identified as the most promising baseline, complemented by independent passivation and disposal watchdogs to meet stringent reliability targets. AI-based health monitoring and autonomous collision-avoidance capabilities, co-optimised with other operational needs, are highlighted as critical enablers to ensure end-of-life controllability and timely risk mitigation. The resulting platform concepts move end-of-life functions from “best effort” to a design baseline, while preserving the modularity and competitiveness of European small satellites. A consolidated technology roadmap is proposed, identifying the developments required to reach TRL 6 and enable Zero Debris-ready small platforms for future missions.

Speakers: Andrea Barlusconi, Andrea Tromba, Roberto Vacca

11:00 Coffee Break

Eco-Design: LCA Methodology

ISAM: Space Safety Mission Preparation

Zero Debris: Zero Debris Platform activities

12 CleanCube: a Zero Debris CubeSat Platform by ISISPACE

Following a pre-phase A study to assess the feasibility of CubeSats being compliant to various space debris mitigation requirements, ISISPACE is engaging into the Phase A work for a proposed a 12U IOD/IOV CubeSat mission “CleanCube”. The project is part of ESA’s Zero Debris initiatives to demonstrate the technologies that can provide compliance to stricter space debris mitigation requirements. To ensure a wide applicability of the solution, a consolidated set of requirements was created by incorporating the currently applicable ESA Space Debris Mitigation Requirements, the French Law, FCC, ISO Standard as well as a foreseen future evolution of requirements. The emphasis of this study is placed on addressing the gaps in current CubeSat designs in terms of space debris management. This concept actively addresses them, challenging the common approach of a passive compliance enforcement. This will ensure the long-term sustainability of the CubeSats niche outside of the low range of LEO, ensuring the survivability of the downscaled technologies. This study will demonstrate the feasibility for early identification, refined space situational awareness, improved system reliance & health monitoring, high reliability in active collision avoidance maneuvers and passivation as well as end-of-life concerns. Additionally, the mitigations towards dark and quite skies will be addressed. The mission will host a set of primary payloads for space debris mitigation purposes as well as secondary payloads which will be funder through other paths.

Speaker: Lisa De Backer (ISISPACE)

13 Phase A for CleanCube: In-Orbit Demonstration of a Zero Debris CubeSat Platform

ESA’s Zero Debris initiative targets ‘net zero pollution’ in orbit by 2030, introducing stricter Space Debris Mitigation (SDM) requirements for all spacecraft classes. While CubeSats have traditionally relied on natural decay to comply with orbital clearance rules, most currently do not meet the updated ESA standard, which imposes tighter limits on orbital lifetime and requires reliable passivation after end of life, enhanced health monitoring, and collision avoidance capabilities.

The CleanCube campaign addresses this gap by targeting an IOD mission no later than 2028 to demonstrate key Zero Debris technologies tailored for CubeSat platforms. The primary mission objectives are to demonstrate reliable end-of-life disposal with a success probability of at least 90%, permanent and irreversible passivation with a success probability of at least 95%, enhanced system resilience, monitoring and failure prediction, improved collision avoidance capabilities and spacecraft trackability during commissioning, and assessment of visual brightness and potential disturbances to radio astronomy.

The ZeDeCS project, conducted by Romanian InSpace Engineering (RISE), represents a Phase A study towards the development of this IOD mission. The mission, system, and subsystem requirements are defined, and a preliminary mission analysis and system design are provided. A 12U CubeSat platform on a 500-km altitude, 97.4-degree inclination Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) is proposed as the baseline option for the mission.

The mission objectives will be achieved through dedicated in-orbit experiments. An active deorbiting system will ensure re-entry within 5 years of the end of life, and solutions for Dead-on-Arrival, such as an autonomously activated drag augmentation device, will be implemented to warrant the 90% reliability figure. The passivation experiment shall consist of depleting all propellant tanks, batteries, and other onboard energy sources, with the 95% reliability to be ensured by failure mode analysis. High-frequency subsystem telemetry logging, autonomous wear-out data analysis and failure prognostics for COTS components, as well as FDIR measures shall support the system resilience objective.

During nominal operations, the CubeSat will simulate conjunctions with virtual space objects, performing both manual and autonomous collision avoidance manoeuvre experiments. High-accuracy GNSS receivers and corner cube reflectors will support spacecraft trackability and enable unambiguous identification within one day of orbit injection. Lastly, position and attitude telemetry will be correlated with ground-based observations to evaluate the satellite’s visual brightness across mission phases.

In addition, the activity provides trade-off analyses related to the ground segment and space surveillance segment resources and degree of automation, evaluates compliance of the mission design with the ESA SDM requirements, and includes a Failure Mode & Effects Analysis as well as an FDIR design. A development roadmap for subsequent mission phases is outlined, including cost, schedule, and risk considerations.

Finally, the project evaluates the commercialization potential of the Zero Debris CubeSat platform. The proposed design offers compatibility with a range of hosted payloads, enabling co-funding opportunities for the IOD mission while supporting future sustainable space operations.

Speaker: Andrei-Gabriel Pavel (Romanian InSpace Engineering (RISE))

14 SPACEKEEPERS – AN IN-ORBIT SMALL SATELLITE DEMONSTRATOR TOWARDS THE 2030 EUROPEAN ZERO DEBRIS OBJECTIVES

The number of human-made objects in Earth orbit has been increasing exponentially year-over-year. According to the latest ESA Environment Statistics (January 2026), nearly 14000 satellites are currently operational in space, while the small-size debris population is estimated to exceed 140 million space debris objects in the 1mm to 1cm size range. This rapidly growing environment poses a significant threat to both current and future space missions. The emergence of megaconstellations, with projected deployments aiming to reach up to 1.3M satellite launches in the coming decades, together with the increasing democratization of space, introduces critical challenges related to collision risk, end-of-life disposal, light pollution, and radio-frequency interference.

Access to space must therefore be kept while addressing these challenges. In this abstract we present SpaceKeepers-1, a mission developed as part of the CleanCube initiative, focused on five key technical zero-debris challenges: reliable end-of-life disposal, reliable passivation, system resilience, collision risk reduction and visual and radio astronomy impact mitigation.

Developed by Alén Space and GMV, and aimed to launch in 2028, the platform is a CubeSat-based concept, using an elongated form factor in favor of the zero-debris goals. By using attitude change maneuvers efficiently, propellant use can be minimized. A nominal attitude where low-area surfaces face velocity can minimize drag, and therefore reduce the number of station-keeping maneuvers. Orienting high-area satellite faces along the orbital velocity vector can facilitate collision-avoidance maneuvers, and accelerate end-of-life disposal, therefore reducing the propellant consumption.

To contribute to the system resilience goals, the mission will onboard an autonomous locator beacon that will enable early detection and positioning of the satellite, maintaining these capabilities through disposal. This will ensure unambiguous identification, and further improve collision avoidance capabilities. Satellite health will be continuously monitored to enhance system resilience, and advanced autonomous anomaly detection capabilities will be implemented from ground, to support early identification of potential anomalies.

Additionally, the development of advanced brightness models, analyzing apparent visual magnitude throughout the whole orbit, will improve the characterization of high brightness intervals. The use of efficient maneuvers, changing the satellite attitude, will prevent exceeding the brightness magnitude predefined limit at any orbital point. The obtained data will be used in conjunction with astronomical institutions, to improve the current models.

These experiments will demonstrate that small satellite missions can actively contribute to the development of advanced zero debris policies, establishing a framework for the future use of space in Europe and paving the way toward a safe, sustainable and efficient use of space.

Speaker: Javier Martínez Martínez (Alén Space)

15 CLEANCUBE: A Zero Debris CubeSat Platform

The increasing use of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) has led the European Space Agency (ESA) to elaborate a Zero Debris (ZD) strategy, targeting full applicability by 2030. This strategy drives the study and the evolution of CubeSat Platforms capable of ensuring compliance with future debris mitigation requirements while maintaining technical feasibility and cost-effectiveness. In the framework of ESA’s SYSNOVA initiative, the CLEANCUBE program targets the development of a Platform design compliant with the ESA Space Debris Mitigation (ESSB-ST-U-007) and Zero Debris (ZD) Requirements, and the verification of the Platform capabilities through the implementation of an In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) mission.
The technical objectives identified for the ZD CubeSat platform cover satellite capability of performing a reliable end-of-life disposal, ensuring effective passivation to prevent unintentional breakups, which could contribute to the generation of small debris in LEO. Moreover, the objectives include health monitoring and fault management systems and the definition of a robust Collision Avoidance Maneuvers (CAM) strategy minimizing the probability of in-orbit collisions. Added value to the mission is provided by the integration of a Space Debris Detector, studied to complement the existing debris population models through the detection of catalogued and not yet catalogued objects.
The program is executed by a fully Italian Consortium led by Tyvak International, covering the role of Prime Contractor, project coordinator, and responsible of leading Platform design, and future mission implementation. The Consortium includes AIKO, expert in providing space and ground-based solutions enhancing on-board autonomy and space system health monitoring, and the Università di Torino (UNITO), responsible for the design and development of the miniaturized Debris Detector.
The proposed concept for CLEANCUBE IOD mission foresees the design of a 12U CubeSat Platform (extendable up to 16U form factor), targeting a launch by the end of 2027 via rideshare opportunity. The baselined Concept of Operations foresees the execution of hosted Payload activity during the nominal operation phase, to complete on-board passivation of critical subsystems, ensuring a de-orbiting from the LEO protected region within 5 years.
At current stage, the CLEANCUBE satellite conceptual design under study foresees the onboarding of the AIKO orbital_OLIVER module, the integration of the Debris Detector developed by UNITO, and the adoption of a flight proven cold gas Propulsion system developed by Tyvak International and T4I. This latter will enable the Collision Avoidance Maneuvers (CAMs) capability and the demonstration of a reliable and fault tolerant passivation. CLEANCUBE in-orbit operation will be supported by a mission Ground Segment composed by a third-part surveillance segment, Tyvak Ground Station Network, an Tyvak Mission Control Center located in Turin. The MCC capabilities will be enhanced by the integration of AIKO gifted_GENE, supporting the Tyvak operations team in the anomaly prognostic detection during the entire operative phase.
In conclusion, the CLEANCUBE program targets the conceptual design consolidation of an innovative CubeSat Platform solution, compatible with Debris Mitigation Requirements, and adaptable in future mission frameworks. Within the project, an IOD mission is developed aiming at verifying the Platform capabilities and the mission compliance with the future Zero Debris requirements.

Speaker: Ms Elena Valant (Tyvak International)

13:00 LUNCH

Eco-Design: LCA & Ecodesign Tools

ISAM: Space Safety Mission Implementation

Zero Debris: Design for Demise

16 Demisable Krypton Tank – Final Presentation

With the rapid growth of large satellite constellations in low Earth orbit (LEO), the need for effective space debris mitigation strategies has intensified. Particularly due to the on-ground casualty risk associated with uncontrolled re-entry of satellite components after their end-of-life. Among the most critical components are Type 3 Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs), commonly used for propellant storage in propulsion subsystems. COPVs consist of a metallic liner overwrapped with carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP). While this configuration ensures excellent structural performance, the inherent thermal resistance and mechanical integrity of continuous carbon fibers prevent complete demise during re-entry, posing a significant challenge to compliance with emerging space safety regulations.

This work serves as final presentation of the project “Demisable Krypton Tank” being part of the ESA ARTES programme. The goal was to develop a fully demisable Type 3 COPV, with the focus on design and manufacturing of a CFRP overwrap tailored for improved demisability during re-entry.

Following an initial proof of concept through plasma wind tunnel testing, the project established a comprehensive set of design and performance requirements for the tank development. A manufacturing process for the demisable CFRP was developed to enable controlled degradation behaviour under re-entry conditions. This material innovation aims to promote early structural failure of the overwrap, facilitating fragmentation and subsequent ablation of the metallic liner.

The project combined experimental and numerical approaches to validate the concept. A further plasma wind tunnel campaign with 1 L COPVs confirmed the enhanced demise behaviour of the developed material compared to conventional CFRP. These results were integrated into re-entry simulations, allowing for a comparative assessment between demisable and standard designs, as well as an evaluation of scalability to larger tank volumes. In parallel, mechanical characterization of the demisable CFRP ensured that structural requirements were met, supported by finite element analyses for the final tank design.

The results demonstrate that the developed 1 L COPV can achieve complete disintegration under representative re-entry conditions, highlighting the potential of the approach for safer spacecraft design. At the same time, the analysis indicates that further optimization is required for larger tanks, pointing to key areas for future development. The current development status confirms proof of concept and establishes a validated design for a demisable 1 L COPV, paving the way for future qualification and industrial implementation.

Speaker: Simone Hartl

17 Demisable Primary Structural Joints - An Insight into the D4D SAFER project

Large-scale telecommunications constellations have contributed to the growing number of satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which has increased the demand for efficient Design-for-Demise (D4D) solutions to reduce the risk of on-ground casualties from debris surviving re-entry. Within this context, the D4D SAFER project (Structures with Advanced Demisability Function for Earth Re-entry), funded by ESA, focuses on the primary joints between main structural elements and aims to develop demisable alternatives. Early opening of the satellite structure at the joints increases the exposure of internal, often difficult to demise components, such as reaction wheels, thereby increasing their likelihood of a full demise and reducing the on-ground casualty risk.

This presentation shows the current status of the D4D SAFER project. First, a representative communications satellite use-case was developed, which serves as the baseline in the project for the evaluation of the demisable joints and their impact on the on-ground casualty risk. Re-entry simulations using SCARAB based on this use-case provided insights into thermal loading of the joints over the whole satellite, fragmentation behaviour, and remaining debris and their on-ground casualty risk. With this information, multiple demisable joint concepts were subsequently developed, using already known as well as new demise concepts aimed at enabling reliable separation under re-entry conditions. The concepts were tested in the re-entry chamber of AAC as well as in the L2K facility of DLR, showcasing both promising demise behaviour for some and limitations for others.

The presentation discusses the challenges encountered during the design and testing phases. In particular, these are contradicting requirements for the launch and in-orbit loads and early separation demands. During testing, several limitations have been observed. The existing testing methods use simplified static load cases, which are not representative of the tumbling and dynamic environment experienced during an actual satellite re-entry. This leads to the tests only demonstrating separation in pre-defined load cases. Additionally, investigating high break-up altitudes requires testing with very demanding test conditions in the L2K, which resulted in new challenges and insights.

Overall, the presentation highlights the potential of demisable joints and the current developments, while showing the challenges that need to be addressed in the next phases of the project.

Speaker: Mr Marcel Övermöhle (INVENT GmbH)

18 DemOBench: Demisability Demonstration of CFRP Optical Benches

The levels of space debris have become an even greater focus of the industry in previous years. The re-entry of spacecraft 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 same fragments will also have a probability to cause harm or damage to humans and the environment. Optical payloads are typically made of elements that have been shown with high probability to release exactly these fragments causing these issues.
To comply with stringent thermomechanical requirements for structures of optical payloads in Earth observation missions, optical benches must often be built from materials with low thermal expansion and at the same time provide high stiffness to weight ratios. Therefore, ceramics and carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) are a prevalent material choice for optical benches. While ceramics generally show a low demise-performance, survival during re-entry for CFRP optical benches strongly depends on the matrix material and specific design of the bench.
The objective of the DemOBench-activity is to investigate both design-solutions as well as potential material optimisations to improve the demise-behaviour of CFRP optical benches, while still fulfilling the thermomechanical performance requirements.
After the selection of a reference optical CFRP-bench with a state-of-the art design and definition of mission, demise, and thermomechanical requirements, the current work focuses on potential design and material alterations to improve the demise behaviour. Representative samples will be tested for demise-performance accompanied by re-entry simulations. During the end of the study, a full-size design-optimised breadboard will be developed. The breadboard design will be analysed via DRAMA re-entry analysis and structural simulations. Finally, mechanical and thermal testing will be carried out to evaluate the thermomechanical performance of the demise-optimized CFRP optical bench.

Speakers: Bradley Lockett (OHB), Ludwig Eberl (OHB System AG)

19 Demisable EO Payload Mechanical Interfaces (Bi-Pods and Brackets)

In recent decades, due to the growing number of satellites and missions in low Earth orbit, the proliferation of space debris poses significant risks to operational spacecraft, human life, and the broader ecosystem. To mitigate these dangers, regulatory entities, including the European Space Agency (ESA), have implemented stringent guidelines such as the Space Debris Mitigation Policy, aiming, among many goals, to minimize risks to populations and infrastructure on the ground.

The improvement of spacecraft demisability during atmospheric re-entry is at the core of this risk control and unfortunately, many of currently designed spacecrafts require materials and structural parts which resist to atmospheric re-entry ablation. The Demisable EO Payload Mechanical Interfaces (Bi-Pods and
Brackets) - ESA AO/1-12498/24/NL/JB study is directly targeting this critical topic, by focusing on the uncomplete demisability of some critical parts like titanium brackets and bipods. Such parts are commonly used on Earth Observation Spacecrafts, especially for thermo-mechanical stability and to ensure the high performance of embarked optical systems.

In order to propose risks mitigation solutions for such critical parts, this ESA study aims at developing innovative titanium brackets & bipods design approaches, through topology optimisation based on cutting-edge re-entry simulation software. By leveraging these technologies, it is then possible to design brackets and bipods with engineered features that promote heat absorption, rapid ablation, and fragmentation during re-entry. Such improvements aim to ensure compliance with mitigation standards while maintaining high quality structural performance in orbit. Different manufacturing processes will also be taken into account (standard machining & ALM), to assess potential additional benefits.

The topology optimised bipods & brackets will undergo detailed simulations and analyses to demonstrate the improvements in terms of demisability while maintaining their thermo-mechanical stability performances. These simulations will be confirmed through demisability tests performed in Plasma Wind Tunnel facilities and will allow further correlation of current models and hypotheses. The study will then pave the way forward for more demisable earth observation critical parts design and better optimisation during spacecraft design phases.

The study’s consortium is based on Airbus Defence & Space, RTech & the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI). While Airbus Defence & Space lead the study, benefitting from its large Earth Observation heritage and background, RTech provides the re-entry simulation expertise and capabilities for the bipods & brackets design optimisation, and VKI support the study with its Plasmatron facilities and test expertise.

At the end of this study, Airbus Defence & Space aims to reach a better balance between in-orbit thermomechanical functionality and controlled demisability, thereby avoiding reliance on costly and complex re-entry strategies. The study started in 2025 and should reach its main goals and conclusions by the end of 2026 through both re-entry simulations and tests. Topology optimisation is currently under going thanks to the expertise of RTech with very interesting perspectives on the demisibility improvements for both brackets & bipods use-cases.

Speakers: Corrado Milliès-Lacroix, Eddy Constant (R.Tech)

20 Demise by Design: Using Shape Effects to Increase Heating to Spacecraft Equipment

Recent high enthalpy demise ground testing has demonstrated that heating to objects is significantly impacted by length scale and flow path. As a result, geometric features such as holes, ribs, lattices and sharp edges can significantly increase the aerothermodynamic heat flux to an object. To date, no attempt has been made to optimise the shape of objects specifically to enhance the aerothermodynamic heat flux to spacecraft equipment.

A set of simple shape adaptations have been tested in the DLR H2K cold wind tunnel on a PEEK model in order to determine whether a noticeable increase in heating can be obtained using specific shapes. The shape concepts examined were holes, facets, steps and grooves, which were selected on the basis of likely effectiveness from sparse literature data, and their applicability to spacecraft components.

Three different sizes of hole were drilled in a sphere cap to investigate the holes concept. The use of holes did produce a significant increase in downstream heating, up to a factor of seven over the original level. Although this was a relatively local effect, a pattern of holes can be used to provide significant heating over a sizeable area. Where the holes are closed, the heat flux increase is smaller, but still approximately a factor of two.

Two cylinders with different sizes/frequencies of radius reducing steps were tested. The stepped surfaces show a clear increase in heating over a cylinder of the same radius. There is an increase in heating at both edges of the step, and the flux in the centre of the step is still above that which would be obtained on the equivalent cylinder. Along the centreline, heat flux increases of approximately a factor of two are observed. The augmentation is even higher at angle of attack where the steps are facing the flow.

Three different faceted objects were tested, from a hexagonal prism, to a 24-gonal prism. The overall heating for these shapes does not appear to be significantly higher than obtained for a cylinder, but there is a significant increase in the heat flux along the facet ridges. For the hexagon, a local increase of a factor of four is observed.

One grooved cylinder was tested, but this had a range of groove patterns, with different spacings, widths and depths. This approach was shown to be highly successful with approximately a factor of two heat augmentation. At angle of attack, this approach is also very promising as the boundary layer is not able to grow, and the grooves act as new leading edges. This results in high heat fluxes along the length of the grooved surface, where a smooth cylinder shows a dramatic reduction in heating as the streamlength increases.

These concepts will be applied to samples to be tested in the hot L2K wind tunnel to verify the demise performance enhancements in the next stage of the work.

Speaker: James Beck (Belstead Research Ltd)

15:30 coffee break

Eco-Design: Greener Technologies

21 Ecodesign Technical Roadmap

Speaker: Lorenz Affentranger

ISAM: In-Space Logistic Mission Support

Zero Debris: Design for Demise

22 Destructive Re-entry Experiments under Thermal and Mechanical Loads

Understanding the processes of spacecraft break-up and demise during re-entry is essential for validating simulation tools, improve the design-for-demise philosophy and develop new approaches to reduce a potential environmental impact to the upper atmosphere. Ongoing efforts from the High Enthalpy Flow Diagnostics Group (HEFDiG) at the Institute of Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart are experimentally investigating all steps from break-up, demise and pollutant formation. Furthermore, HEFDiG collected a large number of airborne observation data to assess the real re-entry scenario.
A particular activity recently invented is the analysis of a large variety of spacecraft materials under thermochemical and aeromechanical loads under flight-to-ground duplication. This means that the aerothermal testing is extended by adding mechanical loads through a load cell.
Moreover, in addition to common structural spacecraft materials such as aluminum alloys, titanium and stainless-steel materials one recent activity focuses on a range of more exotic metals used in spacecraft. Round bar samples of Invar, copper beryllium alloy, titanium zirconium molybdenum, tungsten copper, and Inconel alloy 625 were tested. The samples were inserted in a supersonic plasma flow corresponding to LEO re-entry trajectories at 80 km altitude and the tensile loads were applied. The samples were observed visually, thermally and spectrally. The results highlight that mechanical loads can have a significant impact on the failure characteristics of the materials depending on the material in question.

Speaker: Stefan Loehle (Institute of Space Systems, University of Stuttgart, HEFDiG)

23 THREAD: status of a research project on Thermite-for-Demise (T4D) concept

Using exothermic reactions to control space platform fragmentation during reentry is one of the concepts of the design-for-demise global framework. Currently, thermite reactions are considered good candidates for this application. Despite a few positive proof-of-concept tests, technology maturation is needed to understand efficacy, benefits, and viability for a solid industrial application. These aspects are all addressed by the project THREAD (Thermite reactions assisting satellite demise), an EIC-financed research and innovation action involving nine European partners from academy, SME, research centers, and space industry. The project targets the development of solutions to embed thermites in satellite platforms, in a 42-months-long collaborative activity. New thermite-based materials will be formulated, and performance and survivability to environmental stress will be characterized according to a cradle to grave perspective. Engineering and reentry models will be developed and validated thanks to several plasma wind tunnel test campaigns. Finally, assessment of potential technological and industrial exploitation gives the future perspective of this innovation.

This presentation shows the current development status of the project, after one year of activity. First, the discussion will describe the T4D concept, including advantages and drawbacks and potential application methods. The initial perspective of the team will be described. Then, achievements will be described, with specific emphasis on thermite-based structural materials. Key requirements, compaction methods, ignition, and combustion properties will be discussed. Some of the proposed solutions demonstrated to be safe and easy to handle, resilient to stress from transportation, inert under typical satellite operating temperature range, and capable of delivering intense heat, once they are heated to conditions compatible with reentry aero-thermal environment.

Speakers: Prof. Filippo Maggi (Politecnico di Milano), Prof. Stefania Carlotti (Politecnico di Milano)

24 DRAMA/SARA modelling strategies for destructive re-entry analyses of re-entry vehicles

The destructive re-entry analysis of spacecraft traditionally focuses on satellites not designed to survive atmospheric re-entry at their end of life. However, the increasing development of vehicles intended to withstand controlled atmospheric re-entry, such as the LEO Cargo Return System (LCRS), Space Rider, and the Entry, Descent and Landing Module (EDLM) of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mission (RFM), introduces new challenges for compliance with Space Debris Mitigation requirements. These systems, while engineered to survive nominal controlled re-entry conditions, must also be assessed for destructive re-entry scenarios in contingency cases to compute the total casualty risk, using DRAMA/SARA tool.

Compared with conventional satellites, re-entry vehicles are way more complex to model as their aerodynamic shapes are optimized for atmospheric re-entry, typically including curved aeroshells and protected by Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) composed of multiple specialized materials arranged in layered tiles and attached to structural components of the aeroshell. These characteristics contrast with the simpler geometries and material typically used and available to represent spacecrafts in DRAMA/SARA.

Two major modelling challenges arise in this context. First, the geometric representation of such complex spacecraft must be achieved within the constraints of DRAMA/SARA, which only allows a limited set of primitive shapes (boxes, cylinders, rings, spheres, and cones). Accurately reproducing the aerodynamic and ballistic properties of capsule-like vehicles therefore requires careful decomposition of the spacecraft into simplified geometrical elements (e.g. through panelisation) while maintaining representative physical behavior. Second, the modelling of TPS materials and their attachment to the Aeroshell and the inner parts of the spacecraft presents additional difficulties as TPS tiles are made of advanced composite or ablative materials with thermal and mechanical properties that differ significantly from conventional spacecraft materials.

To address these challenges, the TAS-I Space Debris team developed innovative modelling approaches to adapt DRAMA/SARA analyses to these complex systems and push the limits of the tool. The proposed methods aim to construct representative spacecraft models that preserve key aerodynamic characteristics and ballistic properties while remaining compatible with the tool’s geometric constraints. Particular attention is given to the modelling of TPS to ensure realistic predictions of fragmentation and demise behavior. In some cases, trade-offs are required between geometric fidelity and other parameters, depending on the project and its specificities; however, the resulting models enable reliable assessments of ground casualty risk and re-entry survivability.

This presentation will describe the progressive methodology developed by TAS-I team when first modelling these re-entry vehicles using DRAMA/SARA. It will outline the main challenges encountered while studying the re-entry of these specific vehicles, the modelling rules adopted to ensure consistency with the software framework, and the practical solutions implemented to improve the representativeness of the analyses. Case studies from LCRS, Space Rider, and ExoMars EDLM destructive re-entry assessments will illustrate the approach for different context. Finally, key lessons learned will be presented as well as recommendations for efficiently modelling complex re-entry vehicles within DRAMA/SARA. These insights aim to support future industrial and institutional studies requiring accurate destructive re-entry analyses for next-generation return vehicles and planetary entry systems.

Speaker: Léa Ruas (TAS-I)

Wednesday 1 July

Eco-Design: LCA in projects - Results

ISAM: Technologies for Robotics, GNC and Interfaces

Zero Debris: Dark and Quiet Skies

25 Designing Satcom Missions to Ensure Dark and Quiet Skies: Integrated Optical and Radio Interference Mitigation for Large LEO Constellations

The deployment of large non geostationary satellite constellations introduces new environmental impacts on the observable sky that require systematic consideration early in mission design. Building on the current regulatory and technical groundwork, the work to be presented develops an integrated approach for minimising both optical and radio interference, aligned with the evolving regulatory landscape governing space systems and passive scientific services.

For the optical (Dark Sky) domain, there is currently no binding international regulations on satellite brightness despite the rapidly emerging expectations from scientific stakeholders and space agencies, including ESA’s own sustainability-driven recommendations. Leveraging on these expectations and recommendations, and in collaboration with the astronomical community, a set of requirements for LEO constellations was crafted. A comprehensive modelling chain was then implemented to assess its compliance, incorporating the spacecraft’s detailed geometry, material properties derived from BRDF based characterisation, attitude dynamics, solar array articulation, and full constellation visibility modelling. This analysis identified the surfaces, configurations, and orientations that most strongly contribute to observed brightness and evaluated targeted mitigation strategies – such as surface darkening, specularity tuning, equipment relocation, and solar array orientation techniques – taking into account feasibility, manufacturability, and mission level constraints.

For the radio (Quiet Sky) domain, an in-depth analyse of the applicable ITU Radio Regulations, CEPT deliverables, and the general European spectrum management context provides a sufficient regulatory foundation for the protection of radioastronomy. The Radio Regulations in particular identify the protected Radio Astronomy Service (RAS) bands, their associated protection criteria, and the obligations placed on satellite operators. Building on these requirements, a statistical epfd based methodology consistent with ITU R RA.769, RA.1513, and S.1586 was developed to assess constellation level interference into radio telescopes. The approach takes into account out of band emissions, platform generated unintended radiation, antenna off axis behaviour, and long duration integration effects. This enables the derivation of satellite level emission limits and EMC driven design constraints that are technically and regulatory coherent with the general regulatory framework.

Together, these analyses embed Dark & Quiet Skies protection into early architectural requirements for future satcom constellations, supporting ESA’s Clean Space ambitions and proposing leads for the long term preservation of the astronomical environment.

Speakers: Benjamin Lenormand (Eutelsat), arnaud clement (Airbus Defence & Space)

26 A Modular Framework for Realistic RSO Light‑Curve Simulation utilizing ESA’s DRAMA

The growing density of space debris in Earth orbit increases the need for reliable techniques to characterize Resident Space Objects (RSOs) beyond purely orbital information. This work presents a modular simulation framework for generating synthetic optical light curves, based directly on ESA’s DRAMA suit. Through ongoing collaboration and contributions by OKAPI:Orbits to DRAMA’s development, the framework integrates seamlessly with its components, including orbit propagation, observation modeling, and reflectance estimation.

The resulting framework enables realistic, configurable light‑curve generation for custom objects of varying material properties, shapes, and attitudes. This can be used to form a controlled dataset for evaluating debris‑characterization methods and ties directly to the current updates to ESA’s debris population MASTER led by OKAPI:Orbits, where the debris objects are extended by material and shape.

To demonstrate the frameworks capabilities, two exemplary parameter‑recovery strategies are explored utilizing the framework. The first is a classification approach using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural networks, and the second is an inversion strategy employing Gaussian Process Optimization to fit synthetic curves to specific observations. Furthermore, a validation against real light curves from the nine-channel optical wide-angle monitoring system Mini‑Mega-TORTORA (MMT-9) demonstrates both the potential and current limitations of DRAMA‑based simulation framework for inferring physical properties of RSOs.

This synthetic light curve generation framework provides a foundation for future advancement of space‑debris characterization techniques and supports ongoing efforts to enhance debris‑environment models and operational risk‑assessment tools.

Speaker: Marlin Gesting (OKAPI:Orbits GmbH)

27 DarKnight: an OHB tool for predicting satellite visual brightness

Due to the growth of satellite constellations in LEO, the topic of the importance of dark skies preservation has received growing attention in recent years. Brighter spacecraft disrupt scientific observations by creating streaks or bright spots in telescope images and increasing signal-to-noise ratio. This poses significant challenges both for ground-based and space-based observations, potentially preventing important scientific discoveries through astronomy. To mitigate these effects, the ESA Space Debris Mitigation Requirements contain a section on "Dark and quiet skies", which obliges the satellite developer to quantify and minimise the visual brightness of its satellite design.

To address this need, OHB has developed DarKnight, a tool designed to compute the apparent visual magnitude m_sc of a satellite using the ratio of spacecraft irradiance to solar irradiance, including atmospheric extinction effects. DarKnight implements BRDF based modelling of diffuse and specular reflections, as recommended by ESA, and incorporates an illumination, shadowing, and occultation module to accurately represent spacecraft observability.

Numerically, DarKnight is built around a lightweight and highly flexible interface, designed to streamline brightness modelling. The tool allows users to efficiently define spacecraft geometry, assign material properties, and select observer configurations with minimal operational friction. The tool supports three simulation modes: single satellite, full constellation, and mixed‑fleet analysis. This enables rapid scaling from simple studies to large scenario assessments. Users can also choose between “preliminary analysis” and “detailed analysis” modes, depending on whether only basic material parameters are available, or a more comprehensive optical characterisation is desired. This modular structure ensures fast iteration and adaptability, making DarKnight suitable both for early design loops and for refined mitigation studies.

DarKnight has been verified and validated using publicly available brightness observations of multiple spacecraft, including OneWeb, Starlink V1.5 and V2 Mini, Qianfan, and Pelican 3001. The preliminary analysis mode shows good agreement with values reported by Littoriano (2021), while the detailed analysis mode provides even higher accuracy in many cases. Some mitigation configurations introduce discrepancies, which are discussed in the presentation.

Across all tested missions, DarKnight demonstrates reliable and consistent predictive performance, making it a valuable tool for supporting ESA’s dark‑and‑quiet‑skies requirements and for guiding brightness‑mitigation strategies in future satellite designs.

Speakers: Bayrem Zitouni (OHB), Marta Powierza

28 An exploration into the commercial capability to capture satellite surface reflectivities in the pursuit of a darker sky.

The increasing numbers of satellites in the night sky pose risks to ground-based astronomy in the optical regime. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has found that most images from the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will have contamination from satellite streaks, ranging from localised pixel effects due to faint objects, to entire observations being unusable due to crosstalk from bright satellites. Mitigation attempts are underway to minimise these effects but will struggle if proposed mega-constellations such as SpaceX’s filing for one million space datacentres or Reflect Orbital’s thousands of space mirrors go ahead. Motivated to protect Earth-based astronomy, the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS) recommends satellites be no brighter than seventh magnitude for orbits lower than 550km altitude - the majority of LEO. This requirement is also proposed in the EU Space Act to come into force in 2030.
Several satellite operators are voluntarily bringing in measures to reduce their optical impact, such as dark pigments and mirror-like finishes. For satellite operators to be able to know their impact on astronomy, and show their mitigation efforts are effective before launch, requires physical testing of the satellite in the lab to determine their bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) and creating a digital twin to simulate their orbit. This is surface reflectance, used extensively in terrestrial cases such as pigment classifications and Earth albedo measurements. Adapting terrestrial methods to satellites is non-trivial, due to the size of satellite parts, their irregular surfaces, commercial sensitivity, and cost.
In a UK Space Agency study led by the University of Edinburgh, 3S Northumbria researched existing brightness prediction methods for satellites. It was found that there were several digital twin capabilities, both open- and close-sourced and of various levels of complexities, but a lack of public BRDF data to use as input. This motivated 3S Northumbria to do this further research into existing BRDF acquisition capabilities, to determine the current landscape of satellite brightness predictions.
It was found that there are two main methodologies for acquiring reflections: firstly, using scatterometers. They generally take small (approx. 5cm) samples and run fast image-based measurements. There are some that can take samples up to 30cm, but cost rises with sample size capabilities. As scatterometers take small samples, testing actual satellite panels is not possible for most cases so accurate BRDFs are not possible. The advantage of this method is the speed and low cost - appealing to commercial actors in space. The second is using gonioreflectometers, larger apparatus that have arms holding a light source and detector with which accurate incident and reflection angles can be recorded. This method is time-consuming and data dense – exploring the hemisphere above a sample in 0.1$^\circ$ increments results in over 3$\times$10$^6$ data points. Applying either of these methods to pre-launch requirements would require time and effort from operators and certification bodies, and the market would require time to adapt to provide reflectometry services en masse.

Speaker: Adam McAfee (3S Northumbria Ltd)

29 Testing and Evaluation of Transparent Drag Sail Membrane Materials for Dark Skies

This presentation summarizes the comprehensive material testing and evaluation conducted by the DLR Institute of Space Systems as part of the ESA AFO project (4000138835/22/NL/GLC/va), focusing on the development and qualification of sail membrane materials for future ADEO drag sails manufactured by the company HPS. The study assessed two material candidates with different coatings – a standard FEP polymer film coated with ITO, and a modified atomic oxygen resistant polyimide film. Through a series of environmental tests, including humidity, thermal cycling, UV exposure, and ATOX the performance of the materials were evaluated.
In contrast to previously used polyimide materials, the performance of FEP coated with ITO proved to be a viable near-term solution that provides a good robustness against atomic oxygen. The modified polyimide, while currently produced only in small quantities by the company Aerospace & Advanced Composites GmbH, exhibited good mechanical properties and ATOX resistance, making it a promising future material for drag sails.
The presentation will detail the test methodologies, results, and the rationale behind material selection, providing insights into the potential of these materials for next-generation drag sails.

Speaker: Patric Seefeldt (German Aerospace Center (DLR))

11:00 Coffee Break

Eco-Design: LCA in projects - Panel

ISAM: Technologies for Robotics, GNC and Interfaces

Zero Debris: Dark and Quiet Skies Workshop

Zero Debris: Deorbit & passivation devices

30 Development of the Spacecraft With Inflatable Flight Termination (SWIFT) System: From Conceptual Design to Preliminary Design Review (PDR)

The increasing density of space debris in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) poses a significant threat to the sustainability of future space operations. To address this, the SWIFT project, an ESA-funded initiative under the ARTES program led by a SPACEO, aims to develop a cost-effective and scalable de-orbiting solution for end-of-mission satellites. This presentation outlines the technical developments achieved during the project’s initial phases leading up to the successful Preliminary Design Review (PDR).
Key developments include comprehensive de-orbiting and mission analyses, the architectural definition of the inflatable drag device, the selection of high-performance thin-film materials capable of withstanding the harsh LEO environment, design of a specialized deployment mechanism and definition of inflation system. Significant engineering effort was dedicated to system requirement reviews, rigorous thermal and structural calculations and extensive deorbiting simulations. The completion of the PDR milestone marks the freezing of the preliminary design, confirming the feasibility of the SWIFT system’s high-level configuration and its readiness for the detailed design phase. These results demonstrate the critical role of innovative passive de-orbiting technologies in complying with "Zero Debris" policies and reinforcing European leadership in space sustainability.

Speaker: Joao Pedro Loureiro (SPACEO)

31 WaterCube+: A Hybrid Water-Based Propulsion System for Compliant LEO Deorbiting of Small Satellites

The rapid increase of space debris in Earth orbit has become a critical issue, requiring effective mitigation strategies for both current and future spacecraft.
This challenge is particularly pressing in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) region,
where, as highlighted in the European Space Agency Zero Debris Charter, space-
crafts are required to deorbit within five years at the End of Life (EOL) phase.
This presentation at ESA Clean Space Days 2026 introduces an innovative
propulsion system designed to support compliant and efficient deorbiting: WaterCube DeOrbiting Module (WTCDM). It is a green hybrid propulsion system for CubeSat and small satellite applications, developed by a consortium led by Capsule Corporation, and funded by ESA through the ”Disruptive Propulsion Technologies For Cubeast De-Orbiting” tender. The system is based on the integration of two distinct proprietary technologies: Capsule Corporation’s water-based resistojet propulsion module (RPM) and Politecnico di Milano’s hydrolitic based chemical propulsion module (CPM), which exploits aluminum–water reactions for thrust generation and control. The water comes stored in a low-pressure tank, enhancing safety and cost savings for satellite integrators due to associated benefits in fuel logistics. Each branch conveniently operates with low electrical power request and within a specific thrust range, particularly the RPM up to 4 mN, while the CPM between up to 0.5 N. This enables enhanced flexibility and scalability across different mission requirements of the users, while requiring a low firing time that brings savings associated to mission operations.
This work investigates how the WTCDM fosters the deorbiting capability of
spacecraft and a debris-free LEO region. It is presented an instance use case study that analyses the modification of a SmallSat slow reentry LEO orbit to decrease its decay time. This is obtained by lowering the perigee altitude with the application of tangential WTCDM thrust on the apogee, coupled with an attitude control strategy to ensure the correct thrust direction before firing. The modified orbit becomes compliant with the five-year deorbiting requirement and the orbital decay times are validated using the ESA DRAMA OSCAR tool.
It is also explored how the intrinsic safety and non-toxicity of water as a propellant contribute to effective spacecraft passivation. Advantages in this sense are also brought by WTCDM hybrid architecture in terms of prevention of fragmentation by explosion, featuring two separated modules, redundancy strategies and a planned water ejection mode to ensure no exothermic reaction in the propulsor is started at the EOL.

Speakers: Mr Gianluca Scudier (Capsule Corporation Srl), Mr Lorenzo Barbieri (Capsule Corporation Srl), Mr Mina Baniamein (Capsule Corporation Srl)

32 Quantitative evaluation of end-of-life methods for decommissioning of spacecraft

Since the dawn of humanities space age, more and more spacecraft have occupied the Earth’s orbit: Many decades have passed without appropriate concern to preserve the orbital environment. Therefore, the remains of many spacecraft now pose a critical threat to space flight in the form of space debris. This trend has particular relevance for low Earth orbit and polar inclinations and has led credence to the implementation of a regulatory framework for space traffic management. To prevent further cluttering of orbits, this framework demands a mandatory decommissioning of spacecraft within a certain period after end of mission. Reflecting the exponential growth of the space economy, this requirement has recently been tightened from 25 to 5 years.
Operating in this environment, considerations regarding end-of-life and decommissioning are now already considered during the mission design phase. For LEO this decommissioning usually takes shape as controlled entry into Earth’s atmosphere. In cases where the natural orbit decay is not sufficient to guarantee regulatory compliance, a deceleration burn is often conducted, using maneuvering thrusters to lower the orbit sufficiently. The use of propellant for decommissioning further benefits the mitigation of ground risks by offering the possibility of an selectable entry corridor. However, particularly for spacecraft stationed in Low-Earth Orbit the recent decades saw a rise of passive or semi-automatic deorbiting devices such as drag sails or electrodynamic tethers. Particularly in terms of drag sails, the last decade has seen a sharp increase in TRL levels with many COTS solutions now being readily available.
However, the trade space for EoL solutions is complex, since they impact economic as well as ecologic aspects of system design. To offer a quantitative comparison, a review of the current state-of-the-art for different deorbiting technologies is conducted. To offer an empirical comparison for reference cases and outline each technologies implications on the spacecraft during normal operations, simulations and trades have been conducted and a comprehensive comparison in terms of system mass, cost, complexity and overall operational safety has been derived. Taking into account current trends in the space industry, these findings are associated to orbit regions and spacecraft classes to highlight benefits of each technology and current technology gaps in mission planning.
This study has been conducted within DLR’s TEMIS-DEBRIS project to outline potential applications for orbit transfers from end of mission to an entry corridor and derive any potential implications of EoL concepts on future fully demisable spacecraft in agreement with the clean space initiative.

Speaker: Niklas Wendel (Deuntsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt)

33 Power Bus Isolation Device

Space-Lock is developing a Power Bus Isolation Device, in the frame of an ESA development project.
Before actuation of the device, there is redundancy for reliable transmission of electrical current of up to 250 A.
Upon actuation, the device provides reliable isolation via a physical gap.
The end product will be European, and will be competitive in terms of reliability, cost and lead time.
The development project started Q1/26. TRL 6 is planned to be achieved Q2/27. Follow-on qualification is planned to be completed Q4/27.

Speaker: Florian Guenther (Space-Lock GmbH)

13:00 LUNCH

Eco-Design: Environmental Impacts of Launch and Reentry (Marine and Atmospheric impact)

34 ESA Overview

Speaker: Lorenz Affentranger

ISAM: Workshop - GNC and Robotics Technology Needs for ISAM

Zero Debris: Design for Removal

35 State-of-the-Art in Active Debris Removal Solutions and the Importance of Standard Interfaces

The growing utilisation of Earth’s orbit for services like Satellite Communications and Earth Observation has led to a rapid increase of the number of satellites launched each year. As a result, the population of active satellites in orbit has grown swiftly in the past years, which increases their collision risk. Furthermore, around three quarters of all tracked objects in space today are inactive and cannot control their orbit, posing a severe threat to the long-term sustainability of in-space activities. To prevent a further increase in the number of uncontrolled space objects, satellite operators must plan for the safe removal of their assets at end-of-life. Developing a reliable standard for Active Debris Removal (ADR) is therefore fundamental if we are to ensure we can sustainably continue to operate in orbit. This standard could also boost technological innovation, particularly within the context of in-orbit servicing and operations.
Under the direction of ESA, Novaspace, GMV, Sener, The Exploration Company, AVS and Astroscale are currently in the process of developing a Standard Deorbiting Interface for LEO Satcom (SDILEO), with the purpose of streamlining deorbiting operations and facilitating ADR. In order to do so, a state-of-the-art assessment of current and emerging active removal interface solutions was carried out, as well as an analysis of preliminary requirements to develop a standard interface design for the ADR of LEO Satcom satellites.
The analysis performed highlighted two main categories of ADR interfaces, for prepared and unprepared targets. Based on a comprehensive database of satellite removal solutions, relevant interfacing types were identified and defined, as well as detumbling methodologies, navigation aids, orbit & attitude reconstruction methodologies. The mapping of capture interfaces also showed a stronger focus amongst existing stakeholders towards unprepared interfacing types. Nonetheless, the simpler development and operational requirements of the prepared interface types (i.e., grappling and magnetic), results in a significant traction for these kinds of design as well especially in the mid- to longer-term.

Speakers: Mr Federico Trovarelli (Novaspace), Vincenzo Schiavo (Novaspace)

36 Navigation Markers Development

The markers supporting navigation (MSN) activity at ADMATIS are now grouped into three different marker grades design and development. Our highest-grade marker is an improved version of the current first generation 2D marker using a special phosphorescent coating to support rendezvous and navigation in various illumination conditions, including eclipse. The normal (mid-)grade markers have improved navigation performance compared to the first-generation markers. The lowest grade are the constellation markers with lower cost and limited durability. Our aim is to reach TRL6 for all grades in 2027, with performing qualification tests for the Copernicus environment.
This product family also includes the far - and close-range navigation markers that Admatis intends to be the standardized interface for various missions (in orbit servicing, refuelling, deorbiting, lifetime extension, etc.).
Admatis is ready to cooperate with anyone who is thinking of using any kind of the above markers.

Speaker: Mr László Szegedi

37 The detumbler at Airbus DS : present and future products

The detumbler adventure started more than 5 years ago at Airbus DS, through the ingenious ideas of our senior dynamic / AOCS expert Kristen Lagadec. This small, passive, low mass and affordable equipment is aimed at detumbling and / or prevent a dead spacecraft from spinning, thanks to the Earth magnetic field in Low Earth orbits, creating Eddy currents between a rotor equipped with two magnets freely rotating inside a conductive stator attached to the spacecraft structure. We strongly believe that this equipment will become a game changer for facilitating future Active Debris Removal (ADR) missions for targets failing to comply with debris mitigation rules, due to failures or other reasons. Indeed, the number one factor of cost, complexity and risk of an ADR mission is the tumbling motion of the target, which prevents to envisage an easy and robust capture, whatever the concept.

This presentation will describe the current status of several products linked to the detumbler concept, currently in different development phases at Airbus DS :

• The detumbler-M (for Medium) product qualification campaign is in
  progress (with the support of CNES) and first Flight models
  production is foreseen in 2026, as well as a potential in-orbit
  demonstration

• The detumbler-L (for Large) is being prototyped and will be tested up
  to TRL4/5, in the frame of the ESA study “EOL PASSIVE DETUMBLING
  SERVICE FOR REMOVAL OF NOT OPERATIVE SATELLITES IN LEO/MEO/GEO
  ORBITS - EXPRO PLUS”. This detumbler will enlarge the
  applicability domain of the detumbler-M towards more massive
  spacecraft and higher orbit altitudes

• Finally, a system concept named IDEFIXS, for In-orbit DEtumbler
  FIXing System, which will enable to fix a detumbler on a derelict
  spacecraft already in orbit and tumbling, is been matured through
  internal R&D funding. This innovative concept might well be another
  game changer for facilitating ADR missions of large debris already in
  orbit, for example the ones in the top 50 list that are considered
  the most dangerous for debris proliferation in case of collision,
  knowing that removing all of them would allow to decrease the
  probability of the Kessler syndrome occurrence by ~60%....

Speaker: Pascal Regnier (Airbus Defence & Space)

38 ADM Relative Navigation Test Facility Development

Objective of the activity is to develop and implement test facility for GNC-and IOS-related purposes, which would be utilized in technology development and testing for active debris removal, in-orbit servicing and refilling, with the main focus on the thermal effects, utilizing the adjustable temperature of the facility.
The facility would be used for testing rendezvous, proximity operations, and capture system designs and control algorithms. These includes kinematics and dynamics of six degree-of-freedom (6DOF) relative motion of multiple space objects, lighting conditions on orbit and characteristics of real time space communication links.
Target clients -besides Admatis’ own developments –are startups, SMEs and institutes that don't have their own facilities.
Conceptual design includes a Close-Proximity Operations Facility, a Thermal Vacuum Facility, a Rendezvous Facility and a Laser Ranging Facility at ADM’s site. Interior will be remodelled to provide a clean, ESD-safe working environment to ADM employees and customer representatives. Site will be equipped with a PV system to reduce greenhouse gas emission.
Multi-phase development approach is planned to aim to reach full functionality of the Close-Proximity Operations (CPO) & Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) facilities within 2 years.

Speaker: Mr László Szegedi

15:30 Coffee Break

Eco-Design: Simplifies LCA

ISAM: Workshop - ISAM Legal Aspects

Zero Debris: Design for Robustness to Hypervelocity Impact

39 Outcomes of the Hypervelocity Impact-Robust Spacecraft CDF Study

Outcomes of the Hypervelocity Impact-Robust Spacecraft CDF Study.

Speaker: Daniele Bella (IMS Space Consultancy GmbH)

40 Advanced Spacecraft Shielding Against Hypervelocity Impact

Join us to explore how materials advancements and purposeful mission design are enabling a new class of satellites platforms.

The disruptive mission architectures of the future will be more efficient through responsible environmental choices. They will be more responsive and resilient to an ever changing space landscape too, with interoperability and forward-compatibility included at their core.

Satellite mega-structures and mega-constellations are a rapidly approaching reality; there’s geopolitical flag-planting in the highest value orbital slots; non-trackable orbital debris is growing as part of business-as-usual in the space sector; and the risk profiles for assets in orbit have never been higher.

Meteoroid and Debris Protection Systems (MDPS) are key mitigation options both for risk-of-damage, and for real-damage-sustained.
Shielding against micro-meteoroids and orbital debris (MMOD) not only reduces the immediate danger of penetration from non-tracked threats, but has a key role to play too in curbing the future MMOD-population growth by reducing ejecta from the now-survivable collisions.

Despite the opportunities such as increased insurability; extended lifespan/greater ROI; new or more advanced mission concepts such as RPO and ISAM; and assured operation in a degraded or contested space-domain; many challenges remain which limit the wide-scale uptake of enhanced protective measures.

Traditional shielding solutions are either limited to protecting against debris smaller than 1 millimeter, or are dedicated single-role, bulky Whipple shields such as are aboard the International Space Station. In this presentation you will explore the existing methods and systems of resilience, and examine promising future avenues around toward a credible in-orbit presence.

To unlock the next phase of value in orbit - leveraging falling launch-costs and mitigating against the risks of an ever-more accessible high frontier - we will have to apply new solutions to old problems: asset overcrowding, pollutive externalities, resource-overuse and so on.
In terms of robust spacecraft design, this means finding elegant ways to integrate zero-debris shielding into smaller platforms where mass & volume still come at a relative premium. It means ensuring that protection doesn’t come at the expense of performance by incorporating instead multi-functional designs (ie: data-generative armoured structural panels with integrated thermal control systems). It means looking ahead to the future of the space industry to proactively identify challenges, now surmountable before they arise.

Speaker: James Snape (Aphelion Industries)

41 3D-Woven Composite Materials for Hypervelocity Impact Resistance

Safran has developed an innovative 3D-woven composite technology capable of producing impact-resistant structural materials with tailored through-thickness reinforcement. This technology, which has already proven its reliability in aeronautical applications, offers distinct advantages in preventing delamination—a major failure mode in classical laminated composites—while ensuring robust performance under extreme dynamic loads.

To assess the performance of our 3D-woven composites against hypervelocity impacts, a dedicated experimental campaign was conducted using an 8-mm diameter aluminum sphere as projectile on both traditional aluminum shields and multilayer shield configurations incorporating the 3D-woven composite. Four impact tests were performed at velocities ranging from 1.4 to 4.2 km/s, systematically comparing the behavior of aluminum (Al/Al/Al) with that of composite-based shields (composite/composite/Al). Post-impact analysis confirmed that our 3D-woven composites did not exhibit any delamination, thereby enabling resistance to multiple impacts. This exceptional damage tolerance is a direct consequence of the three-dimensional fiber architecture, which controls crack propagation and maintains structural integrity where conventional laminates would fail catastrophically.

However, our current carbon fiber/epoxy composite variant, though structurally superior in terms of damage containment, did not outperform Aluminum T6 in terms of ballistic limit as a bumper. This finding points toward material optimization avenues, in particular the exploration of hybrid 3D-woven architectures incorporating Nextel, aramid, and ceramic fibers, potentially coupled with thin metallic foils, to further enhance impact resistance without sacrificing the no-delamination advantage.

This presentation will detail our experimental results—including failure modes, ejecta geometry, and comparison to theoretical ballistic limit equations. We will also discuss ongoing and future work aimed at developing next-generation composite shields for space debris protection. Our approach and findings underscore the potential of 3D-woven composite materials to contribute to safer, more reliable spacecraft, aligned with the objectives of the Clean Space initiative.

Speaker: Rudolph Bierent (Safran Electronics and Defense)

42 Impact-Safe Tank Pressure Level

Deorbiting & Passivation Technologies

Impact-Safe Tank Pressure Level

Fragmentation remains the dominant contributor to the space debris environment, with explosions of pressurized vessels and propellant tanks playing a particular role as the main cause for catastrophic breakup events. Passivation of satellite tanks and upper stages after mission completion is recognized as the most effective mitigation strategy to prevent on-orbit fragmentations. Passivation requires depleting or venting onboard stored-energy sources to levels that cannot cause explosion or deflagration leading to system breakup and debris release. However, no universal threshold exists; critical values are defined by mission-specific analyses and are often underpinned by limited empirical data.

We present the ESA study “Impact-Safe Tank Pressure Level,” which aims to build an engineering database to assess critical pressure thresholds that could trigger tank explosions from hypervelocity impacts by space debris. The database targets unshielded, large titanium tanks subjected to spherical debris impacts. While this exhaustive in terms of potential failure conditions on orbit, the study advances the understanding of failure initiation and demonstrates a robust evaluation approach based on both numerical and experimental simulations. Given the high cost of spacecraft tanks and hypervelocity impact testing, the study relies largely on numerical simulations, validated by impact tests on pressurized, sub-scale tank samples.

The reference tank design Features 600 mm Diameter titanium tank with 1 mm wall thickness, a configuration that challenges the numerical stability of full-scale simulations when using commercial hydrocode solver. The tank failure process depends on complex interactions between high strain-rate loading by the impactor in the tank wall, shock waves induced by the impact generated fragments within the fluid contained in it, and their interactions with the inner tank wall after passaging through it. To address these challenges, we developed a novel coupling approach that integrates two Fraunhofer EMI in-house codes—a structural-dynamic module and a fluid-dynamic module—to model solid–fluid interactions and evaluate critical failure conditions.

A simplified model was derived to quantify the explosion initiation pressure as a function of impact parameters (impactor size and velocity) for the investigated failure scenario. This study's final presentation introduces the challenges for impact experiments and numerical simulations, details the study approach and its implementation, presents the study results, and delivers the derived failure model.

Speaker: Dr Martin Schimmerohn (Fraunhofer EMI)

Thursday 2 July

Eco-Design: Programatic aspects

ISAM: Workshop on ISAM use cases

Zero Debris: Collision Risk management

43 Pre-launch post-separation screenings for MTG-S1 and MetOp-SG A1 launches

The rapid increase of in-orbit payloads in recent years, with mega-constellation exploitation such as Starlink, has made conjunction analyses increasingly critical.
These are typically performed when the spacecraft is in routine and only rarely pre-launch, to assess the first hours after separation. This phase is especially delicate, since the spacecraft typically cannot perform manoeuvres during the deployment of appendages, the initial attitude acquisition, the configuration of the propulsion and AOCS subsystems. That’s why EUMETSAT decided to start performing conjunction assessments pre-launch, for longer trajectories after separation from launcher, and to introduce this in the final procedure leading to selecting the final lift-off time.
The first launches to undergo this process were MTG-S1 (GEO), launched with Falcon 9 on 1st July 2025, and MetOp-SG A1 (LEO), launched with Ariane 6 on 13th August 2025:
• MTG-S1, on a Super-Synchronous-Transfer-Orbit, crossed Starlink altitude shortly before separation but, due to its highly eccentric trajectory, exited the LEO protected quickly and re-entered it one orbit later, without being manoeuvrable beforehand. Moreover, the evolution of the initial uncertainties along a high-elliptical orbit are difficult to model, as linear covariance propagation is not applicable. A relatively wide launch-window (~150minutes) existed: EUMETSAT was to communicate the closed portions of the window, due to high-risk events.
• MetOp-SG A1 was injected at ~800km and remained inside the LEO protected region for the entire period in which the spacecraft was not manoeuvrable. There was no launch window but only a single lift-off time per day. A small lift-off shift was however agreed to be implemented, in case of an anticipated high risk post-separation
With the support of EUSST, EUMETSAT assessed the safety of the post-separation trajectories for both spacecrafts: EUSST screened the ephemerides provided by EUMETSAT versus the SP catalogue of USSF; the resulting conjunction data were then post-processed by EUMETSAT: the main idea was to classify each event according to the potential consequence of a collision, based on secondary object’s size and its status (active/inactive). For instance, a conjunction involving a large active spacecraft entails far more severe consequences (in terms of orbital-environment degradation and in the interaction with another operator) than one involving a small inactive object. This led to the definition of different levels of acceptable risk based on the categories of the classification.
The actual operational experiences for the 2 launches, with the relevant results, will be detailed in this paper.

Speaker: Mr Pierluigi Righetti (EUMETSAT)

44 Pilot use and expansion of decision support and coordination systems

The rapid growth of active satellites and the increasing density of orbital traffic demand a new generation of autonomous systems capable of supporting safe and efficient space operations. Within this context, the Pilot Use and Expansion of Decision Support and Coordination Systems activity advances two key technological components of ESA’s CREAM cornerstone: Automated Collision Avoidance (AutoCA) and Autonomous Space Traffic Management (AutoSTM). Together, these systems form the core of a fully integrated framework designed to automate conjunction analysis, streamline operator coordination, and enhance trust in data exchange mechanisms across the wider space traffic management ecosystem.
1. Automated Collision Avoidance (CREAM#1: AutoCA): a standalone, operator‑side decision support tool capable of autonomously assessing collision risk and recommending optimal avoidance strategies. Its architecture combines a configurable web‑based GUI, a workflow‑oriented API layer, and a computational backend responsible for ingestion, analysis, and manoeuvre design. AutoCA evaluates incoming Conjunction Data Messages, groups alerts into events, and computes collision risk using deterministic methods combined with AI/ML models trained on historical CDM datasets. These models enable prediction of future CDM evolution, improving responsiveness in dynamically evolving events and supporting more informed decision-making. The tool incorporates additional functionalities such as data fusion, uncertainty evaluation, and safety envelope determination, thereby improving the reliability of collision predictions.
2. Autonomous Space Traffic Management (CREAM#3: AutoSTM) complements AutoCA by addressing the coordination challenges that emerge during active‑vs‑active conjunction events. It provides a centralised platform where satellite operators, space surveillance providers, and mediators can exchange manoeuvre intentions and supporting data using CCSDS‑compliant standards. Building on rule‑based logic and multi‑agent negotiation principles, AutoSTM automates the filtering of events, identification of responsible parties, evaluation of proposed CAMs, and execution of negotiation or mediation procedures when required.
The combined deployment of AutoCA and AutoSTM provides significant benefits for operators and service providers. AutoCA reflects the need for late decision‑making, rapid evaluation of manoeuvre feasibility, and minimisation of false alerts reduces the need for continuous expert monitoring and accelerates the identification of avoidance manoeuvres, supporting 24/7 operations with less manpower, increasing robustness in collision avoidance operations. AutoSTM, in turn, addresses one of the most resource‑intensive aspects of space traffic management: coordinating manoeuvre responsibilities in shared orbital environments, by guiding actors through structured decision pathways, enforcing harmonised rules, and supporting complex multi‑party interactions. Their integration enables an end‑to‑end workflow—from risk assessment to coordinated mitigation—while ensuring that sensitive orbital data can be exchanged securely. Both systems are designed for iterative improvement within pilot environments, using real and simulated mission data, user feedback, and operator‑driven shadow operations to refine algorithms, interfaces, and decision logic. Complex validation and public demonstration will be performed by executing shadow avoidance and coordination operations, with a final public hosting of the system for satellite operations.
By advancing automation, data fusion, machine‑learning‑enabled prediction, and secure coordination, these systems collectively elevate the maturity of Europe’s space traffic management infrastructure. Their deployment represents a decisive step toward scalable, operator‑trusted autonomy in orbital safety processes, ensuring that future congested environments can be managed with higher reliability, transparency, and efficiency.

Speaker: Daniel-Iulian Gugeanu (GMV)

45 OB-ASTRA: ENABLING AUTONOMOUS ONBOARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE

The growing number of active satellites and resident space objects is pushing the limits of ground-based collision avoidance workflows. Latency in decision loops, scalability limitations, and coordination overhead in dense orbital environments are increasingly incompatible with the responsiveness that effective collision risk management demands. Achieving zero debris ambitions at scale requires not only robust mitigation at end-of-life, but also active, responsive, and autonomous collision avoidance throughout a spacecraft's operational lifetime.

OB-ASTRA (On-Board Autonomous Space Traffic Risk Avoidance) is an autonomous onboard collision avoidance system developed under the ESA ARTES 4.0 Advanced Technology Programme by a consortium led by Nautilus – Navigation in Space Srl, together with the University of Bologna, SpaceDyS, and INAF. The system relocates conjunction detection, collision probability estimation, maneuver planning, and inter-spacecraft coordination directly onboard the spacecraft, reducing reliance on ground infrastructure while remaining interoperable with existing Space Situational Awareness (SSA) services through a ground companion application and CDM ingestion capability. As a result, OB-ASTRA enables the hosting spacecraft to autonomously mitigate the risk of collisions, contributing to the long term preservation of the orbital environment.

OB-ASTRA is implemented as a compact, standalone subsystem and leverages sensors already standard on most spacecraft platforms: a GNSS receiver for precise onboard orbit determination and a star tracker for attitude knowledge and optical tracking of secondary objects. This design philosophy minimises integration burden across a wide range of platform classes and avoids additional sensor mass while enhancing navigation fidelity. An onboard ephemeris catalogue enables autonomous conjunction screening independent of ground contact, and a low power LoRa-based Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) supports cooperative ephemeris and intent exchange between equipped spacecraft.

A central feature of OB-ASTRA's operational concept is its progressive, late-commitment risk refinement strategy. As the time of closest approach nears, state uncertainty is reduced through updated onboard orbit determination of the hosting spacecraft and, where possible, ephemeris updates on the secondary object, either via optical tracking for uncooperative targets or ISL data exchange for cooperative ones. This just-in-time approach minimizes unnecessary maneuvers and associated propellant expenditure, directly supporting mission lifetime and sustainable operations.

The Concept of Operations is organized around two decision deadlines: a first checkpoint for maneuver drafting and coordination initiation, and a second for final commitment. Established traffic coordination rules and inter-spacecraft intent sharing are applied during this window, promoting predictable and transparent collision avoidance behavior consistent with emerging space traffic management frameworks.

OB-ASTRA has currently entered Critical Design Review (CDR) and is progressing toward engineering model manufacturing and integration, followed by a test campaign in Q3 2026, with TRL 5 validation targeted by year end. The validation will be conducted using a high-fidelity sensors-in-the-loop testbed, in which representative conjunction scenarios are reproduced by stimulating the GNSS receiver, ISL transceiver, and star tracker through dedicated signal and optical scene emulators.

These activities are expected to demonstrate how scalable onboard autonomy can strengthen collision risk management in increasingly congested orbital environments.

Speaker: Virginia Angelini (Nautilus - Navigation in Space)

46 OCAD - ON-BOARD AUTONOMOUS COLLISION AVOIDANCE DETECTION TESTBED

The increasingly crowded space environment and the growing risk of collisions with space debris, active and inactive satellites necessitate a shift from traditional ground-based orbit maintenance and collision avoidance (CA) strategies to autonomous onboard solutions. This paper expands upon the work presented by GMV at the 9th European Conference on Space “A Modular And Scalable Collision Avoidance System For Enhanced Satellite Autonomy, 2025” focusing on developments within the OCAD project.
OCAD (On-board Autonomous Collision Avoidance Detection Testbed) aims to develop a testbed to validate the design of a standalone satellite payload capable of performing autonomous on-board collision avoidance, including capability as inter-satellite communication and on-board secondary detection.
The self-contained payload (of mass < 10kg) is designed to provide real-time orbit determination and propagation, conjunction detection, risk assessment and autonomous collision-avoidance manoeuvre computation to a host-satellites, using standard spacecraft interfaces.
Its primary function is to detect potential conjunction with other spacecraft operating in its vicinity and to continuously forecast its own short-term orbital position and velocity. These forecasts are also shared with nearby spacecraft equipped with an OCAD payload while at the same time, it receives orbit-prediction data from neighbouring spacecraft which is added to an on-board minicatalogue of neighbourhood objects uploaded from ground. This functionality not only allows to provide more up-to-date and accurate spacecraft states for the CA decision chain but also can enable cooperative CA strategies.
For any potential collision risks, a safe and efficient CA manoeuvre is computed with consideration given to safe corridors and potential downstream conjunctions. Validated manoeuvres are provided to the host platform AOCS via thrust vectors and a decision flag.
To support its autonomous decision-making, OCAD will perform onboard orbit determination and produce short-term forecasts of its orbital position and velocity and corresponding covariance, providing improved accuracy compared to longer-horizon estimates generated by ground-based surveillance systems. The payload is designed to operate in both LEO and GEO environments through the selection of robust methods for both short-term and long-term encounters.
On-board autonomous secondary orbit determination of uncatalogued debris objects or the refinement of catalogued object covariance using an optical payload is also a baseline capability of the payload. Any identified objects could be added to the minicatalogue providing enhanced situational awareness further decreasing the risk of collisions. The benefits of such a solution are under study and will be an outcome of the testbed development.
The OCAD system enhances a spacecraft’s ability to take timely and effective action to avoid collisions, directly contributing to the implementation of ESA’s Space Debris Mitigation Policy by enabling autonomous collision-avoidance capabilities that reduce the risk of in-orbit fragmentation events. Overall, OCAD strengthens compliance with ESA guidelines aimed at preventing the creation of new debris and ensuring long-term orbital safety. This paper will present the OCAD testbed design which will be used to model the proposed payload and assess the autonomous capabilities of the stand-alone system.

Speaker: Mr Danilo Forte (GMV)

47 Ensuring Orbital Safety from T-0: The Critical Imperative for Immediate Post- Launch Collision Avoidance

As the density of the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) environment increases, driven by frequent rideshare missions and the deployment of mega-constellations, the initial phase of satellite operations has emerged as a period of heightened orbital risk. Historically, collision avoidance (COLA) processes have relied on established tracking by Space Situational Awareness (SSA) providers. However, this study demonstrates that waiting for third-party identification is no longer a viable strategy for responsible space actors. This paper identifies three primary catalysts for immediate post-launch COLA. First, there is a significant "blind spot" in space traffic management: other operators do not receive Conjunction Data Messages (CDMs) for newly released objects until they are officially catalogued. Second, during mass-launch events, the 18th Space Defense Squadron (Space-Track) often faces identification latencies lasting several weeks to months; during this period, operator-provided ephemerides are the only reliable source
of orbital information for the SSA community. Third, the evolving regulatory landscape, exemplified by the ESA Zero Debris Charter, mandates proactive debris prevention from the moment of separation.
The research provides a comprehensive statistical analysis of collision probabilities during the first days of flight, alongside real-life case studies of close approach events. The findings underscore that independent orbit determination capabilities and early communication protocols are essential safety requirements, even for spacecraft
without manoeuvre capabilities. While relevant for all satellites, small satellites are at higher risk, as they often lack these capabilities. We conclude that shifting COLA responsibilities to the immediate post-deployment phase is a fundamental requirement for the long-term sustainability of a clean space environment.

Speaker: Mr Quirin Funke (MAITY Space GmbH)

11:00 Coffee Break

Eco-Design: Open Forum: EcoDesign What comes next?

ISAM: Workshop on ISAM use cases

Zero Debris: Space Debris Mitigation requirements compliance & evolution

48 The Zero Debris Thresholds Study: Results and Lessons Learnt for Spacecraft Vulnerability Assessment

Following the release of ESA’s Space Debris Mitigation requirements in 2023, ESA has been working towards future policy evolutions, with updated thresholds and requirements adapted to the dynamic orbital environment.

The ESA funded Zero Debris Threshold study performed by a consortium led by Thales Alenia Space France with the participation of Thales Alenia Space Italia and GMV, focused on the potential future thresholds evolution of the requirements related to Orbital Clearance and Vulnerability to Space Debris impacts, taking into account their technical and programmatic implementation on different type of missions.

Several study cases, among different satellite classes and orbital regions, were selected to analyze the impact at system level of the different thresholds evolution. Leveraging its expertise in hypervelocity impact testing and MicroMeteoroids and Orbital Debris (MMOD) shielding, Thales Alenia Space Italia has been responsible for the activities related to the vulnerability aspects. In particular, TASI was tasked to assess the risk of the S/C large fragmentation events induced by impacts with meteoroids and space debris, with the aim of assessing the potential relevant modification of the requirements dealing with the probability of S/C break-up in Earth orbit.

Several aspects and sources contributing to the MMOD induced on-orbit break-up risk were analyzed for each study case. To evaluate the MMOD related break-up risks, a simplified 3D ESABASE/Debris model has been developed for each study case. The obtained results were then combined with RAMs internal failure estimations to evaluate how close each case was to the threshold. Furthermore, design improvements were proposed for those cases that did not comply with the threshold. In the last phase of the study, a critical assessment of the tools and the methodology adopted was performed. This presentation will summarize the study’s key findings, discuss implications for vulnerability threshold evolution, and outline the next steps towards enhancing spacecraft robustness.

Speaker: Lucia Suriani (Thales Alenia Space)

49 Impact and Evolution of Zero Debris Requirements for Lunar Orbit Missions

The expansion of lunar exploration activities over the coming decade introduces new challenges for the application and evolution of space debris mitigation principles beyond Earth orbit. While existing debris mitigation standards have been largely developed for Earth orbital regimes, the increasing number of planned lunar orbit missions requires the definition of adapted guidelines and technical solutions consistent with the objectives of the Zero Debris initiative.

This activity investigates the implications of the Zero Debris approach for spacecraft operating in lunar orbit and cislunar space, with particular focus on requirements compliance, operational constraints, and potential evolution of mitigation guidelines. The work analyses the applicability of existing debris mitigation requirements to lunar orbital environments and proposes their evolution, including disposal strategies, trackability considerations, collision risk management, and spacecraft design measures aimed at preventing the generation of long-lived debris.

In addition, the study explores enabling technologies and infrastructure that support Zero Debris compliance for lunar missions, including enhanced trackability solutions, controlled end of life disposal concepts, and modelling tools for predicting impact outcomes and debris generation. The results contribute to ongoing discussions on how debris mitigation policies and engineering practices should evolve to support sustainable operations in the cislunar environment while maintaining alignment with the broader objectives of the Zero Debris initiative.

Speaker: Sara Sanchis Climent (OHB System AG)

50 Status of ESA Missions Compliance and Evolution of Requirements

Status of ESA Missions Compliance and Evolution of Requirements

Speaker: Dr Francesca Letizia (European Space Agency)

51 Designing for Compliance: Space Debris Mitigation in the SIRIUS Mission

The ever-growing use of low Earth orbit has made space debris mitigation a key driver in the design of modern space missions. As orbital environments become increasingly congested, spacecraft must be developed not only to fulfil their missions, but also to ensure that, valuable orbital regimes remain accessible for all.

This work studies the application of SDM requirements and their impact on mission design, during the consolidation phase of the SIRIUS SCOUT mission. SIRIUS is conceived as a low Earth orbit Earth observation satellite that will deliver thermal infrared data for the study of Urban Heat Islands and their effects on microclimates in European cities,

The analyses performed address several core areas, as structured within the mission’s Space Debris Mitigation Plan. These include:

• The minimization of released mission-related objects,
• The mitigation of on-orbit break-up risks due to internal system failures.
• The mitigation of on-orbit break-up risks due to impacts from surrounding debris.
• The mitigation of collision risk, through the implementation of orbital safety measures, such as additional delta-v margins, the use of conjunction assessment services, and the capability to plan and execute avoidance maneuvers within short response times.

Together, these elements contribute to safe and reliable operations in an increasingly crowded orbital regime.
Additionally, End-of-life disposal is treated as a critical aspect of mission compliance:

• The use of drag augmentation devices is assessed in terms of their impact on orbital lifetime and their role in supporting post-mission disposal requirements.
• In parallel, passivation strategies are defined to minimize the risk of post-mission break-up, including irreversible disconnection mechanisms and other measures to eliminate stored energy.
• Re-entry considerations are also addressed, with a focus on identifying components that may survive atmospheric demise, as well as evaluating the implications of hazardous materials and spacecraft brightness in the context of dark and quiet sky initiatives.

Finally, key future steps for maturing the compliance to Debris Mitigation Requirements are outlined, including brightness assessment, early identification and commissioning strategies, and further refinement of the system design.

Overall, SIRIUS serves as an example of how SDM requirements are addressed since the early stages of mission development, to ensure compliance in support long-term space sustainability.

Speaker: Julio Del Cuvillo (Thales Alenia Space)

13:00 LUNCH

General: Clean Space Days 2026: Wrap Up

General: B2B Networking

Friday 3 July

Eco-Design: Ecodesign: Event

ISAM: Workshop on ISAM use cases

Zero Debris: Technical Forum Workshop (Hybrid event)

11:00 Coffee Break

Eco-Design: Ecodesign: Event

ISAM: Workshop on ISAM use cases

Zero Debris: Technical Forum Workshop (Hybrid event)