Science Café Wageningen - Space Debris - 25 January 2023

During the more than six decades that humankind has been active in outer space, thousands of satellites have been launched into the Earth’s orbits. Thanks to the growing number of space-faring countries and of private actors that participate to space ventures, the number of launched objects continues to increase. To that contributes the rapid technological developments that allow for affordable launches and large constellations of satellites. Eventually, some of the satellites in orbit reach the end of their life, encounter malfunctions or collide with other objects, which render them inoperable. Space debris, as these non-functional objects are known, pose a great risk to the environment of outer space, creating the risk of further collisions and orbital congestion. Therefore, it is essential to mitigate space debris in future missions and remediate existing debris in space.