Twelve countries have signed the ‘Zero Debris Charter’ in the European Space Agency or European Union Space Council. These 12 countries include Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Apart from these, the European Space Agency has also signed the Zero Debris Charter as an international organization. Through this charter, commitment to the long-term sustainability of human activities in Earth orbit will be strengthened.
Zero Debris Charter
- The Zero Debris Charter is a comprehensive community-driven and community-building initiative for the global space community with a global leading effort to make space debris neutral by the year 2030.
- It was unveiled at the ESA Space Summit in Seville meeting (Spain) in November 2023.
Objectives
- To make space debris neutral by 2030
- To encourage Member States to implement a zero debris approach for their missions
- To encourage partners and other stakeholders to follow a similar path
Why the Charter was needed
- Satellites in orbit are the basis of our modern lives. They are used for space science, Earth observation, meteorology, climate research, telecommunications, navigation and much more.
- But pieces of defunct space equipment and artificial satellites are stuck in Earth’s orbit and the number and mass of these debris objects is constantly increasing over time, increasing the threat to active satellites.
- There are 130 million pieces of space debris larger than one millimetre in Earth’s orbit, which pose a threat to current and future satellites.