Clean Space Projects and Core Activities

Clean Space Core

ESA is pioneering an eco-friendly approach to space exploration and is aiming at a zero-debris strategy. With the amount of space debris on the rise, and the negative effects of industrial materials, processes, and technologies on the environment, it is becoming vital that ESA not only reduces the impact of its own activities, but also sets an example to other agencies. ESA’s Clean Space initiative was set up in 2012 to consider the environmental impact of the entire life cycle of space missions. The main activities are in three main areas:

• Management of End-of-Life (minimising the production of space debris).
• In-Orbit Servicing (removing one object whilst also demonstrating, in-orbit, functionalities required for a future service that industry foresees based on the market needs).
• EcoDesign (addressing environmental impacts and fostering green technologies).

The impact of the current stakeholders’ interest into Clean Space know-how, technologies, and applications, is substantial. Clean Space research allows accessing to necessary environmental practices (e.g: Life Cycle Assessment) and technologies (e. g: End-of-Life management and In Orbit Servicing). It also provides needed technological means for allowing Member States economic growth and increasing revenues, for creating jobs and boosting a competitive European space economy of the future. The need of space technology applications for a clean and sustainable space environment is undeniable. All European Large System Integrators (LSIs) have identified space debris mitigation as the most impacting new requirement for future missions and as a high priority for the evolution of the current platforms, both for institutional and commercial markets. Furthermore, commercialisation of space is rapidly advancing and leading to small satellites market growth, in combination with new business trends such as the one adopted in the ADRIOS/ClearSpace-1.

The Scientific interest on the overall Clean Space initiatives is growing significantly, in terms of publications, citations, knowledge transfer and scientific community with a particular focus on eco-design for space systems because of the world-wide attention to green deal.

How the future evolution of the Clean Space Core would be achieved:

• Preparing European Low-Earth Orbit spacecraft platforms for the level of robustness required for the “zero-debris approach”.
• Through the evolution of “Design for Removal” – in particular, the development and test of a capture payload.
• By addressing environmental impacts and fostering green technologies.
• Reducing the on-ground casualty risk and the cost of adapting all low-Earth object platforms for controlled re-entry.

In principle, a key aspect for long term space sustainability of space activities is a proper management of end-of-life of satellites and launcher upper stages. Europe has a competitiveness edge in several areas related to end-of-life management, e.g. design for demise and passivation. Space Debris Mitigation (SDM) Requirements are evolving and now broadly applicable to institutional and commercial missions. An effective approach to the management of End of Life is seen by the European LSIs as a main driver for the evolution of LEO platforms. ESA has adopted a proactive and coordinated approach through the CleanSat initiative, with suppliers, integrators and ESA working together to develop and integrate new technologies in future missions. CleanSat fosters innovation and competitiveness of European products to answer to EoL needs in passivation, design for demise, controlled and uncontrolled re-entry challenges through the ESA technology programmes, i.e. TDE and GSTP.

LEO satellites are already being prepared for removal at end-of-life in case of failure in orbit. In the commercial market, OneWeb satellites include a capture interface, and in ESA, the Copernicus Expansion missions include dedicated requirements and relevant interfaces to prepare them to be removed in case of failure. Several devices (e.g. markers, de-tumbling magnetorquers, and mechanical interfaces) have been developed under the ESA technology and EOP funding. However, these interfaces need to be further standardised and made available to all European operators.

The on-going preparation of satellites for removal is seen not only as a need to guarantee the sustainability of the orbital environment in the short term, but also as a steppingstone towards a much more efficient, and environmentally friendly, management of the assets in orbit. As a matter of fact, in the future many more in-orbit services are expected to become available and satellites should be prepared to start operating in a logic of Reuse, Repurpose, Repair and Recycle.

To support the development of greener space missions, ESA has a pioneering role in the definition of a standard practice for carrying out quantitative assessments through Life Cycle Assessment. This practice is being increasingly implemented in ESA projects, allowing the identification of environmental hotspots and supporting alternative green technologies identification and development (as to mitigate areas of environmental concern identified in space technologies and projects). Those green technologies will then be implemented in projects, minimizing their impacts. These tasks require a dual knowhow in both space and environmental science which makes it quite unique and requires intensive and specialized training.

DEORBITING KIT

The deorbiting kit is a suite of equipment that is foreseen to be installed on the ground before the launch of the satellite. It is intended to perform the necessary functions to execute controlled re-entry of the satellite at end-of-life. The development and in-orbit demonstration of this system will open the way for the development of several other applications of autonomous deorbiting systems for future LEO missions, e.g. future ESA Earth observation missions. In addition, the work performed in this activity will define a basic foundation that can be adapted in the future for active debris removal mission concepts, e.g. on-orbit installation of deorbiting kits on satellites already in space.

The main objective of the Deorbiting Kit is to carry out the design and in-orbit demonstration of a ground-installed deorbiting kit, using the launch adaptor of an upcoming Vega-C mission. The VESPA+R adaptor intended for use on the ADRIOS - Clearspace-1 demonstration mission is used as a design reference case. The kit is being developed already taking into scalability and modularity requirements to ensure its compatibility with LEO and GEO clients.

The work performed in this activity will define a technology that will represent an important building block to the envisaged “zero-debris approach”, which requires successful disposal.

The activity is currently ongoing with a consortium led by D-Orbit (UK) and the first stage of consolidating the requirements and preliminary design of the kit and subsystems is expected to be complete by September 2023, followed by a detailed design and final implementation by 2026. Developing the deorbiting kit will help to achieve compliance with the ESA space debris mitigation policy.