Robin Biesbroek

Active Debris Removal in Space Robin Biesbroek

There are 17,000 traceable objects in space. However only 600 of these objects are active satellites. The other 96% can be classified as space debris; human-made elements or fragments that do not function anymore. These objects are now the reason why satellite operators get collision warnings on a weekly basis, and every week at least one of these debris objects enters the atmosphere. In the meantime, the number of debris objects in space keeps increasing... It is time for a change. People need to realize that our environment includes space around the Earth, and that this space is polluted. It is time to start actively removing space debris. But access to space is expensive, and catching debris objects has never been done before. Now for the first time, Robin Biesbroek, who manages active debris removal studies at the European Space Agency, describes solutions to clean up space in a non-technical way. Apart from technical design solutions to create a 'garbage truck for space', other questions such as 'what are the legal applications?', 'Where is space debris?', 'can we make a business case out of debris removal?' are discussed.