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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The millions of fragments of debris in orbit today are the direct result of 'fragmentation events' in the past. Of the 550 events known to date, those caused by propulsion have created the greatest amount of space debris.
Energy left undisposed of on-board a satellite or rocket body can lead to explosions. For this reason, the international space debris mitigation guidelines require that satellites are 'passivated' at the end of their mission - for example by emptying fuel tanks and disconnecting batteries.
Over the last two decades, the average number of fragmentation events has remained stable at roughly 12.5 per year. Depending on which type of event is counted this number can be as low as 0.3 events per year; if the lifetime of debris created is taken into account and unexplained events are excluded. The suggestion is that debris creating events not due to collisions, that have a large environmental impact, are still taking place partly due to re-use of a design with known issues.