Please note that this session was withdrawn and is no longer available in the respective programme. This withdrawal might have been the result of a merge with another session.
PS7.3 | Emerging technologies for space safety, sustainability and accessibility
EDI
Emerging technologies for space safety, sustainability and accessibility
Convener: Leah-Nani Alconcel | Co-conveners: Francis Pope, Dr Fionagh Thomson, Gruffudd JonesECSECS, Lily BeesleyECSECS
The LEO space environment is far more crowded than ever before, with mega-constellations of commercially owned satellites comprising a large proportion of operational LEOsats providing vital services including Earth observation, climate monitoring, and communications. LEO residents also include debris and include rocket bodies, defunct satellites, and fragments of destroyed satellites. Despite commitments to the removal of satellites from the LEO protected region within 5 years of end of mission, through deorbit or transfer to a graveyard orbit, this will only limit the growth of space debris, not actively reduce it. In order to maintain the safety, sustainability and accessibility of LEO orbits and beyond, work across a broad range of disciplines must be done to enable successful global coordination of space traffic management. This session aims to highlight ongoing computational and experimental research aimed at achieving a sustainable space future, including but not exclusive to: improving space situational awareness, understanding satellite re-entry and its impacts on the upper atmosphere, and identifying and disposing of space debris.