Die Raumfahrt wächst rasant – und mit ihr die ökologischen Herausforderungen im All und auf der Erde. Der Trendbericht „Weltraum“ zeigt, welche Chancen satellitengestützte Anwendungen etwa für Klimaschutz und Umweltbeobachtung bieten, macht aber zugleich deutlich, wie steigende Startzahlen, neue Akteure und wachsende Satellitenkonstellationen zu Umweltbelastungen und Weltraumschrott führen. Auch weniger beachtete Entwicklungen wie neue Weltraumbahnhöfe, wiederverwendbare Antriebssysteme oder geplante Rohstoffgewinnung im All werden in den Blick genommen. Die Studie analysiert zentrale Entwicklungen und formuliert Handlungsfelder für eine nachhaltige Nutzung des Weltraums. Veröffentlicht in Broschüren.
With space activities expanding rapidly, environmental challenges in orbit and on Earth are increasing as well. The trend report highlights how satellite-based applications can support climate action and environmental monitoring, while also showing how rising launch numbers, new actors, expanding satellite constellations, and less visible developments such as new launch sites or planned in-orbit resource extraction contribute to environmental pressures and space debris. The study analyses key developments and identifies action areas for a sustainable use of outer space. Veröffentlicht in Broschüren.
With space activities expanding rapidly, environmental challenges in orbit and on Earth are increasing as well. The trend report highlights how satellite-based applications can support climate action and environmental monitoring, while also showing how rising launch numbers, new actors, expanding satellite constellations, and less visible developments such as new launch sites or planned in-orbit resource extraction contribute to environmental pressures and space debris. The study analyses key developments and identifies action areas for a sustainable use of outer space.
Die Raumfahrt wächst rasant – und mit ihr die ökologischen Herausforderungen im All und auf der Erde. Der Trendbericht „Weltraum“ zeigt, welche Chancen satellitengestützte Anwendungen etwa für Klimaschutz und Umweltbeobachtung bieten, macht aber zugleich deutlich, wie steigende Startzahlen, neue Akteure und wachsende Satellitenkonstellationen zu Umweltbelastungen und Weltraumschrott führen. Auch weniger beachtete Entwicklungen wie neue Weltraumbahnhöfe, wiederverwendbare Antriebssysteme oder geplante Rohstoffgewinnung im All werden in den Blick genommen. Die Studie analysiert zentrale Entwicklungen und formuliert Handlungsfelder für eine nachhaltige Nutzung des Weltraums.
The strategic importance of space systems is growing in Europe, for civil and defence applications (satellite communications, ..). Recent examples have shown that on-orbit collisions brought on by space debris are important threats. On one hand, some space debris are routinely tracked, making the collisions predictable, but they increase the cost of space mission's management. On the other hand, most debris are untracked because they are too small, making prediction impossible. The way to reduce vulnerability is then to reduce severity of collision and probability of occurrence. The proposed P2-ROTECT project aims to assess the risks associated with collisions and recommend possible solutions such as better prediction, protection or action on debris environment to reduce vulnerability of missions. But it is mandatory to elaborate a vulnerability index which quantifies the efficiency of solutions with respect to trackable and untrackable debris effects and provides access to sensitive terms of collision probability or severity. Furthermore, trade-offs are made between efficiency and cost to propose new design options for space infrastructures. In order to work with concrete examples depending on orbit types, three missions of interest for EU are analysed: Sentinel-I in Low Earth Orbit, GALILEO constellation in Medium Earth Orbit and MTG, the weather observation constellation in Geostationary Orbit. The Consortium includes well-known partners capable of analysing space missions at all levels (S/C component, mission) and able to provide innovative solutions for risk reduction. The P2-ROTECT objective and methodology match with the objectives of Activity 'Security of space assets from on-orbit collisions'. Concerning the complementarities with the ESA SSA proposal, the propositions are clearly oriented towards low-cost solutions to contribute to space surveillance and improvement of collision prediction methods, while raising situational awareness on a European level.