The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Simulation of the GEO environment with mitigation measures (top) and without (bottom).
This image shows a simulation of the future GEO environment in the case when no measures are taken; this is the "business-as-usual" scenario. In the top panel, with mitigation measures, a much cleaner space environment can be observed, if the number of explosions is reduced drastically, and if no mission-related objects are ejected.
However, to stop the ever-increasing amount of debris, more ambitious mitigation measures must be taken. In the long run, spacecraft and rocket stages have to be returned to Earth after completion of their mission.
It is crucial to that we start immediately to implement mitigation measures.