The public selection of names of two moons of Pluto at Pluto Rocks! has finished and the winners announced: Scientists go with people’s choice for Pluto moons: Vulcan, Cerberus – Cosmic Log
ESA conference on space debris finds consensus on need to act
An ESA sponsored conference on space debris finds a consensus on the need to act on the problem:
Global experts agree action needed on space debris
25 April 2013 There is an urgent need to remove orbiting space debris and to fly satellites in the future without creating new fragments, Europe’s largest-ever space-debris conference announced today.
The findings from the 6th European Conference on Space Debris were released during the concluding press briefing at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.
Future space missions must be sustainable, including safe disposal when they are completed. The current levels mean that we must soon begin removing debris from orbit, with research and development urgently needed for pilot ‘cleaning’ missions.
The removal of space debris is an environmental problem of global dimensions that must be assessed in an international context, including the UN.
These results were presented to over 350 worldwide participants representing almost all the major national space agencies, industry, governments, academia and research institutes.
“There is a wide and strong expert consensus on the pressing need to act now to begin debris removal activities,” says Heiner Klinkrad, Head of ESA’s Space Debris Office.
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Expert consensus on the need to act
“There is a wide and strong expert consensus on the pressing need to act now to begin debris removal activities,” says Heiner Klinkrad, Head of ESA’s Space Debris Office.
Future debris density at poles with and without active debris removal
“Our understanding of the growing space debris problem can be compared with our understanding of the need to address Earth’s changing climate some 20 years ago.”
There was wide agreement that the continuing growth in space debris poses an increasing threat to economically and scientifically vital orbital regions.
In addition to providing daily benefits to citizens and economies, today’s satellite infrastructure has immense value. The replacement cost for the approximately 1000 active satellites in orbit today is estimated to be around €100 billion. The impact on the overall economy of losing these satellites would be several orders of magnitude higher. Society would be severely damaged.
“While measures against further debris creation and actively deorbiting defunct satellites are technically demanding and potentially costly, there is no alternative to protect space as a valuable resource for our critical satellite infrastructure,” he notes.
“Their direct costs and the costs of losing them will by far exceed the cost of remedial activities.”
The findings were delivered by senior researchers and specialists from the DLR German Aerospace Center, France’s CNES space agency, Italy’s ASI space agency, the UK Space Agency, the Committee on Space Research, the International Academy of Astronautics and ESA.
ESA accelerates space debris research and development
Satellite operators worldwide, including those flying telecom, weather, navigation, broadcast and climate-monitoring missions, are now focusing their efforts on controlling space debris.
The ultimate goal is to prevent a cascade of self-sustaining collisions from setting in over the next few decades.
ESA, as a space technology and operations agency, has identified the development of active removal technologies as a strategic goal.
A number of long-standing space debris-related research activities are being reinforced by the Agency. This includes improving our understanding of the debris environment and its evolution using novel, sensitive measurements and improved modelling of debris sources.
The new Clean Space initiative includes maturing technology to approach, capture and deorbit targets – a mission is already under study.
Clean Space will also develop techniques to mitigate the problem, such as passive and active deorbiting devices and the means to ‘passivate’ retiring satellites.
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Here’s a EuroNews report on the space debris issue:
Space policy roundup – April 25, 2013
Jeff Foust writes about the James Webb Space Telescope status: Not-so-news about JWST – Space Politics
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The Economist comments on the recent Antares rocket test: Private space flight: Orbital in orbit – Competition comes to the celestial trucking business – The Economist
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Some reports on today’s Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on NASA’s budget:
- Bolden Says Furloughs Likely if Sequester Continues Into FY2014 – SpacePolicyOutline.com
- Sen. Richard Shelby ‘doubts’ NASA serious about big new rocket | al.com
- Stephen Smith gives his view of the hearing: Twitter / SpaceKSCBlog:“This morning’s Senate budget hearing lasted about 40 minutes. Only 3 showed up; they all rep space centers and tried to protect their pork.”
For masochists, here is a video of the hearing:
Update: More space policy items:
- Out-Year Sequestration Will Slow NASA Exploration- Aviation Week
- Budget woes may mean schedule slips, employee furloughs for NASA – Flight Global
- NASA’s Chief Defends Commercial Spaceflight Agreements – VOA News
Planetary Society Hangout: NASA budget and Planetary Defense Conf. review
Here is the latest Planetary Society Hangout: Planetary Society Weekly Hangout: 2014 NASA Budget Update and Planetary Defense Conference Recap – The Planetary Society
Casey Dreier discusses the latest 2014 Budget at NASA and what it does to Planetary Science (and what the Society is doing about it), plus other policy issues.
Planetary Radio host Mat Kaplan joins us to discuss the Society’s Planetary Defense Conference in Flagstaff, AZ, which wrapped up last week.
And our Senior Editor, Emily Lakdawalla, comes in at the end to talk about her recent trip to New York City for the press conference announcement of Mars One, the group that wants to land humans on Mars (and never have them return).
Starship Century Symposium 2013 – May 21 – 22, UC San Diego
Here’s an announcement for the Starship Century Symposium 2013:
Starship Century
Is this the century we begin to build starships?
Why go to the Stars?
Can we?
Should We?
May 21 – 22, UC San Diego, Qualcomm Institute, Atkinson Hall Auditorium
Starship Century is a symposium coordinated by the new Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination in collaboration with Gregory and James Benford, presenting ideas from their anthology of science and science fiction.
- Scientists address the challenges and opportunities for our long‐term future in space, with possibilities envisioned by: Freeman Dyson, Paul Davies, Peter Schwartz, John Cramer and Robert Zubrin.
- Science fiction authors Neal Stephenson, Allen Steele, Joe Haldeman, Gregory Benford, Geoffrey Landis and David Brin discuss the implications that these trajectories of exploration might have upon our development as individuals and as a civilization.
Update April.28.13: The leader of a project at NASA Johnson Space Center who is investigating the possibility that warping space to achieve faster than light travel (see article Warp Factor – Popular Science) will present an update at this meeting: 2013 Starship Congress Speaker Announcement – Dr Harold “Sonny” White: “Warp Field Physics: An Update” – Icarus Interstellar