Twelve countries sign the “zero waste charter” in space

Twelve countries have signed the ‘zero waste charter’ at the ESA/EU Space Council today, consolidating their commitment to the long-term sustainability of human activities in Earth orbit. In addition to the 12 countries, the European Space Agency has also signed the “zero waste charter” as an intergovernmental organization (IGO).

The “Zero Waste Charter” is a pioneering global initiative to achieve space debris neutrality by 2030, which was launched at the ESA Space Summit in Seville in November 2023.

It is the first time that countries have signed it at a national level, promoting Europe as a leader in clean space and at the same time demonstrating the widespread acceptance of the charter. Germany, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Romania and Sweden have committed to adhere to the charter. More than 100 organizations have already promised to sign this community initiative in the coming months.

“The ‘Zero Waste Charter’ signals Europe’s unwavering commitment to being a global leader in space debris reduction and remediation, encouraging collective action by a large community of space actors around the world,” says Quentin Verspieren, coordinator of the Space Security program and the ESA Protection Accelerator. “The impact of the promise made today by these twelve countries on the sustainability of our future activities in space will be immense.”

“ESA is committed to a ‘zero waste’ approach, driving a comprehensive internal transformation towards more sustainable practices,” said Holger Krag, Head of Space Security at ESA. “As part of its efforts, ESA has facilitated the community-led development of the ‘zero waste charter’, a source of inspiration that unites many of our partners around the world in pursuit of a common goal.”

ESA estimates that there are currently more than one million pieces of space debris larger than 1 cm in Earth orbit. Each of these objects is capable of causing catastrophic damage to space assets. If rapid and decisive action is not taken to improve the sustainability of space activities, the exponential growth of this debris population will pose an increasing danger to satellites and astronauts and could completely render some orbits useless.

At the 2022 Ministerial Conference, Member States encouraged ESA to pursue “a zero waste approach to its missions, and to encourage partners and other actors to follow similar paths, thereby collectively placing Europe at the forefront of sustainability.” on Earth and in space, while preserving the competitiveness of its industry.

ESA’s “zero waste” approach is a large-scale review by the agency of its internal space debris reduction requirements to achieve debris neutrality by 2030. The approach will be based on waste mitigation and remediation developed in the ESA Space Security program.

The “Zero Waste Charter” is a broader, community-driven and developed initiative for the global space community. Facilitated by ESA’s ‘Protecting Space Assets’ accelerator and developed in collaboration with more than 40 space actors, the charter contains both high-level guiding principles and ambitious jointly defined objectives to enable the space community to achieve the “zero waste” goal.

Since the launch of the charter at the ESA Space Summit in Seville, Spain in November 2023, more than 100 organizations from around the world, including national space agencies, major satellite manufacturers, space startups and astronomical societies, They have confirmed their intention to sign it.

The first partners from industry and academia, as well as NGOs, are expected to sign the “zero waste charter” at the International Aerospace Show (ILA) in Berlin on June 6.

Click here to find out more about the ‘zero waste charter’, what it hopes to achieve, how it is being developed and how to register your organisation’s interest in signing it.

Like

Thank you for liking

You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!