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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More than 750 000 bits of dangerous debris are currently in orbit around Earth, formed from discarded rocket parts, defunct satellites, exploding fuel tanks and collisions in space. Tiny fragments have the potential to damage working satellites, while collisions with large pieces can destroy them altogether.
In 2018, ESA performed 28 ‘Collision Avoidance Manoeuvres’ with its Earth satellites, moving them out of the way of impending debris. Each manoeuvre involves a great deal of work – analysing and predicting the movements of debris, calculating the risk of collision, planning the manoeuvre, sending commands to the satellite to change orbit and checking to see that the results were as expected.
ESA is working to automate the collision avoidance process, including management of warnings, go/no-go decision recommendation and the design and execution of manoeuvres. This technology is needed now more than ever, as commercial operators send constellations comprising hundreds or thousands of satellites into orbit, and as more countries, companies and organisations eagerly take their place in space.