ESA

will arrive in space with a prototype spacesuit for ESA

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Until now, when we thought about Decathlon, a breathable t-shirt, a hiking backpack or that idea of ​​making sport accessible to everyone came to mind. That same company, founded in 1976 in Francehas taken an unexpected step: has collaborated in the development of EuroSuit, a spacesuit prototype that will be tested on the International Space Station. It is not about opening a new market, but about participating for the first time in a European space exploration project together with specialized players in the sector. The mission in which this prototype will be tested has its own name: εpsilon. This is how he baptized the European Space Agency the first expedition of Sophie Adenotscheduled for 2026 and destined for the International Space Station. The name refers to the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet and represents the idea that, in space exploration, each individual contribution can be small, but significant. The accompanying emblem, featuring a hummingbird and surrounded by tiny dots, reinforces that message: great achievements require many discrete contributions. A usability evaluation, not a presentation. EuroSuit is a prototype of an in-vehicular suit that will be tested on board the ISS through a series of planned test sequences: checking whether it promotes mobility, whether it adapts correctly to the body, whether it can be manipulated without assistance and whether it maintains reasonable performance in real conditions. What is sought is not to launch a definitive product, but to obtain data that allows us to know if this type of European design can advance towards an operational suit. The prototype does not arrive at the International Space Station as an individual project, but as part of the program coordinated by the CNES for the εpsilon mission. From Toulouse, the Cadmos center supervises both EuroSuit and other experiments focused on physiology, medical technology, radiation or control of microorganisms. This structure allows us to observe how the devices behave in real conditions of use and collect valuable data for future missions. EuroSuit will be evaluated in that context, with the same rigor as the rest of the tests. When textile knowledge enters orbit. Spartan Space leads the development of EuroSuit and Decathlon brings its expertise in textiles, mobility and functional design. The project is presented as a collaboration that allows adding capabilities without the need for all actors to come from the aerospace sector. The objective is to check if the practical approach to sports equipment can be useful in operations within the International Space Station and if it makes sense to continue with this development model for future European missions. As it is an intravehicular suit, EuroSuit is not intended to replace the pressurized suits used in extravehicular activities or to accompany the astronaut throughout their stay in orbit. It is located in another layer: that of operations within the ship that require protection, comfort and ease of use. It is designed so that the astronaut can put it on and take it off in less than two minutes, without assistance, something unusual in this type of clothing and which could be relevant in case of emergency. Images | THAT | Decathlon In Xataka | This woman has been accused for years of committing the only crime that has taken place in space. It was all a lie

Insects have been traveling to space for decades. Now the ESA is studying putting them on the astronauts’ plates

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For years, many of us have thought of insects as something foreign to our table, but they have been part of space history for much longer than we imagine. Even before the first astronauts reached orbit, these small species they had already shown that could withstand the conditions of flight. Today, with long-duration missions on the horizon, the conversation has changed. Europe wonders if these animals, so nutritious and easy to maintain, could become a real option to feed those who live far from Earth. Why insects. Although they are still a culinary rarity in Spain, insects are part of the regular diet of billions of people. The FAO estimates more than 2,000 species consumed on different continents, valued for their contribution of protein, iron, zinc and beneficial fats. Their ability to develop with few resources and transform waste into useful biomass makes them an attractive candidate for controlled food systems. That is why several European teams are analyzing its nutritional potential and its viability in environments where every gram counts. What we know about microgravity. Research with insects in space has accumulated decades of datafrom early suborbital flights to tests at orbital stations. During this journey, different species have been tested, with very different results: some managed to complete essential phases of the life cycle in microgravity and others showed sensitivity to factors such as movement or radiation. This contrast has been useful to understand what biological mechanisms remain stable outside of Earth and what processes are altered even in very resistant organisms. What the ESA is looking for. The European team work with a specific idea: to know in detail how these organisms behave in key phases of their development when they spend prolonged time in orbit. The agency has brought together diverse profiles to study their ability to recycle nutrients and produce protein under controlled conditions, a line that already has candidate species such as the common cricket and the mealworm. This research aims to clarify what biological requirements should be met before considering its production in long-duration missions. Fruit fly habitat used for scientific research in space Although there is an extensive history of testing with insects, much of the results are scattered and come from short missions. The majority of experiments did not reach times that allow the complete life cycle of a species to be followed, an essential requirement to evaluate its use in long missions. Furthermore, many of these investigations are old and used different methodologies, making it difficult to compare them. That is why ESA is preparing new studies specifically aimed at measuring changes in reproduction, development and behavior in orbit. Drosophila model. NASA’s experience with Drosophila melanogaster has demonstrated its usefulness as a model organism to understand physiological changes in space. The agency highlights that it shares a good part of the genes related to human diseases and that its accelerated reproduction facilitates the analysis of several generations. He Fruit Fly Lab, installed on the International Space Station, it allows us to follow their behavior and freeze samples for study on the ground. It also incorporates a centrifuge that helps distinguish which effects depend on gravity and which are linked to space radiation. Astronaut James D. “Ox” Van Hoften examines a bee experiment From the laboratory to the menu. For now, the food use of insects in space missions continues to be a line of study and not an immediate application. Researchers need to check how they behave in prolonged phases and what it would mean to stably grow them in inhabited modules. Added to this is the challenge of transforming this biomass into safe, manageable and acceptable products from a nutritional and sensory point of view. Everything is moving in the direction of exploring options, not automatically incorporating them into the astronauts’ menu. Images | ESA | POT In Xataka | Astronauts’ food is not appetizing at first, especially in China

ESA prepares for a hypersonic leap. Invictus is his letter to compete with China and the USA on extreme flights

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Just a couple of decades ago, take off from a conventional track and fly five times faster than sound seemed reserved for science fiction. Today, the European Space Agency (ESA) He wants to pave that path with Invictusa Experimental hypersonic platform that could transform the way the old continent accesses space. Invictus is not a missile neither a military plane nor a vertical pitcher. It is an aircraft concept conceived to fly to Mach 5, take off horizontally and return intact to be reused. Its modular structure – you must exchange materials, motors and software – will allow to test very different configurations throughout several campaigns. We are talking about a program funded through instruments such as General support technology program (GSTP) and the Element of Technological Development (Tde) of ESA. The key is to provide Europe with its own technological base on a land dominated by the United States and China. The great enemy is not speed: it is the scoring temperature Reaching Mach 5 does not depend only on engine power. The great obstacle is thermal: friction on the fuselage raises the external temperature to Extreme levels and converts incoming oxygen into a gas that cannot be compressed or used directly. In this sense, Invictus will integrate an engine Early Hydrogen fed, whose thermal exchanger will be able to cool air at more than 1,000 ° C in dozens of milliseconds. “It will provide an invaluable opportunity to test the entire motor flow route, from air intake to the postquemor, at a real scale in an integrated aircraft,” David Perigo, chief engineer of ESA said. Technology does not start from zero. Reaction Engines developed KNOWan atmospheric-aorbital hybrid engine supported in its day by ESA. After the entry in company administration in 2024, part of its team and intellectual property went to Frazer-NASH, which now moves that know-how To Invictus. What were previously laboratory tests will be integrated for the first time into a complete and reusable aircraft, a key step towards European space aircraft. The strategic background is clear: if Invictus demonstrates its viability, Europe could move towards orbital planes capable of carrying out civil and military missions with a difficult rapid and flexibility to match conventional vertical rockets. The Consortium —frazer-NASH in front, together with Spirit Aerosystems and Cranfield University-has 12 months and 7 million euros of initial financing to deliver the complete preliminary design of the vehicle, indispensable step before programming the testing campaigns in flight. The internal calendar points to a first demonstration flight around 2031. While the United States and China compete to dominate hypersonic flight, Europe does not want to stay in the barrier. With Invictus, that spears a clear message: the continent intends to design the future access to space in its own terms. Images | THAT | Frazer-Nash In Xataka | Jeff Bezos’s space company has advanced Spacex in a key milestone to go to the moon and Mars: zero evaporation

Ninguneada by the United States, ESA has just signed a collaboration agreement with an emerging power: India

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It seemed that the new space race had two well -defined sides, but the last turns in NASA have left faithful members such as the European Space Agency in the lunge. Now that has turned his gaze to the East. Habemus Pactum. The European Space Agency and its counterpart from India (ISRO) just signed a joint intention statement To collaborate on flights to space. The strategy includes a first phase of cooperation in the low terrestrial orbit, and a second phase on the moon. Both agencies have pledged to work on the interoperability of their respective spacecraft, so that they can be found and attached to the low orbit. The collaboration will be extended to the training of astronauts, land simulations and parabolic flights. From the orbit down to the moon. The agreement also opens the door for Europe to play experiments on Indian Poem platforms, which take advantage of the upper stages of PSLV rockets as orbital platforms. More in the long term, it will be an opportunity for European astronauts to travel to the planned space station of India, the Bharatiya Antariksh Stationwhose completion is scheduled for 2035, with a first module in 2028. They also enter the joint robotic mission bag to the moon. India is in the small list of spatial powers that have successfully alunicized. The Chandrayan-3 mission He wore the Vikram module and Rover Pragyan to the South Lunar Pole. New alliances. The agreement, signed by the CEO of ESA, Josef Aschbacher, in New Delhi, arrives at a critical moment for European projects in space. The White House presented last week A budget proposal that would involve a cut of almost 25% for NASA. This “Tijeretazo” fully impact in programs where ESA has invested significantly: the Orion ship and the Lunar Gateway station. In A statementAschbacher said he seeks a commitment between international cooperation and improve his autonomous abilities. “The complexities and costs of space missions often exceed the capacities of a single nation,” he said. “In this context, associations have allowed us to reach great milestones that would be unimaginable alone.” In March, ESA had already signed an agreement with the Japanese Space Agency Jaxa to explore joint missions to the moon and Mars. The trend is clear: before the drift of the United States towards a more nationalist approach and focused on private commercial systems (Spacex, Blue Origin …) for its lunar and Martian ambitions, ESA is diversifying its alliances. European diplomacy. While the United States prioritizes the speed and reduction of costs through the private sector, leaving aside the traditional international collaboration models, the ESA Diplomacy strip presenting textually as a “reliable partner.” Part of that diplomacy makes a close collaboration with China unlikely, at least while NASA remains its main partner. India, with its growing spatial ambitions and future manned flights, emerges as a key strategic alternative on this new space geopolitical board. Image | Isro In Xataka | The last eeuu slap to Europe has sounded up to space: NASA has just left ESA with Artemis

NASA has just left ESA with Artemis

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He Historic Tijeretazo to NASA On the part of the United States government has a clear victim: Europe. If Congress approves the cuts proposed by the Trump administration, the European Space Agency, one of NASA’s most faithful partners, will remain alone and with invoices payable in the most important projects that it shares with its American homologue. Context. The budget proposal of the White House for fiscal year 2026 includes a brutal cut for NASA, which would go from 24,800 to 18.8 billion dollars of annual budget, 25% less. The cuts are particularly primed With NASA’s scientific branchbut the United States lunar program and its partners have also placed upside down. He Artemis programthat Trump himself promoted in his first term, will remain in the hands of the private industry from 2027 with the cancellation of the SLS rocket and the Orion ship. The Lunar Gateway station, in which several international partners participate, has completely discarded. A slap to ESA. Although It was seen coming For a long time (Boeing herself He warned it to its employees at the beginning of the year), the cancellation of the SLS/ORION system has direct consequences for the European Space Agency. ESA is responsible for the European Service Module (ESM) that provides propulsion, energy and life support to the Orion ship and its crew. The first ESM was used in the mission without crew Artemis I. Two others will be used in the Artemis II and III missions. But in February 2021, ESA awarded Airbus a contract of 650 million euros for the manufacture of three additional modules (ESM-4, 5 and 6), which will now run out of use. The varapalo does not end there. Lunar Gateway was not an exclusively American project either. The Lunar Orbital Stationwhose launch was planned for 2027, was NASA designed In collaboration with the space agencies of Japan (Jaxa), Canada (CSA), United Arab Emirates and ESA itself. Of course, many of its components were in an advanced phase of development or manufacturing. Thales Alenia Space manufactured in Turin (Italy) The primary structure of the halo module, which was already in the United States for its final equipment. In addition, the ESA had in a test phase a model of Lunar I-Hab (A habitat type module developed in collaboration with Jaxa), and in the preliminary design phase the refueling and telecommunications module Lunar View (formerly known as Esprit). And the astronauts? These multimillionaires European investments, now in the air, They were currency to guarantee the presence of Astronauts of the ESA in the missions to the moon. The architecture of lunar missions will change completely from Artemis III. Taking into account that Artemis I was a mission without crew, that Artemis II has a Canadian on board as a non-American crewman, and that Artemis III is designed for NASA They step on the moon againIt is not clear at what time we will see Europeans step on the moon. After certifying for extravehicular activities at the International Space Station, Pablo Álvarez, The Spanish astronaut of the ESAhe planned to start his lunar training to use the future Gateway station. NASA looks at the private sector. The justification of the White House for this drastic change of course is “to return to the moon before China and put a man on Mars” (the references to place the first woman in Mars were eliminated from the NASA website as part of the measures to erase the initiatives of diversity, equity and inclusion). To do this, It will allocate 7,000 million dollars to a lunar program focused on “commercial systems that allow more ambitious later lunar missions.” All looks point to the Spacex Starship system and the Blue Moon Moon Module from Blue Origin. In addition, they reserve $ 1 billion to start a new manned program to Mars, Following Elon Musk’s recommendationswhose vision shares the future NASA administrator and also Jared Isaacman businessman. An approach that prioritizes the speed and reduction of costs through the private sector, leaving aside the traditional international collaboration models based on contributions from other agencies. Who looks at? The general director of ESA, Josef Aschbacher, has responded with the expected diplomacy. In A statementHe explains that follow -up meetings with NASA are already being held to evaluate the impact of cuts. “From here at the end of the year, ESA will celebrate the Council meeting at the ministerial level, determined to further enhance the role of Europe in space,” says Aschbacher, adding NASA to NASA in a subtle polish that that “undertakes not only to be a reliable partner, but also robust and desirable.” Will perhaps open a closer collaboration with China? China, of course, is willing to become “the new NASA.” Ha Open to international collaborators The tianwen-3 mission of marcian samples and the Robotic mission Chang-e’8 to the moon, perhaps aware that the power vacuum that the US leaves can be filled with a greater opening. Image | Halo Module Structure of the Lunar Gateway Station (Tales, ESA) In Xataka | Boeing has lost: NASA will cancel the SLS rocket and look for a cheaper alternative to colonize the moon and Mars

There are so much space garbage that the ESA has said enough

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When astronauts run to take refuge in their ships within a few months, rocket fragments fall into populated areas and multiple flights are diverted, it is that The problem of space garbage It is getting worse. The European Space Agency wants more strict rules and greater international cooperation, and will impose them even if no one follows. The goal: avoid the dreaded Kessler syndrome. From bad to worse. In 2024, the amount of space waste increased considerably after several incidents. In May, a Russian satellite that had been inactive for three years disintegrated in the low orbitforcing astronauts of the International Space Station to take refuge in their ships. In August, A CZ-6A Chinese rocket exploded After deploying 18 satellites in low orbit, generating a cloud of more than 300 fragments. In October, the IS-33E communications satellite Manufactured by Boeing, but he did it in the geostationary orbit. Up there, the 700 documented pieces will last thousands of years. Official data. According to a Recent ESA Reportapproximately 54,000 objects of more than 10 centimeters are known orbiting the earth, including active satellites. However, there are at least 1.2 million objects between 1 and 10 centimeters that could also put manned missions at risk and satellites due to its great kinetic energy. ESA warns in its report that the current trend increases the real risk of Kessler syndrome, a cascade of collisions in the low terrestrial orbit that could use this region for future generations. This scenario would not only put the new satellite constellations, such as those of Starlink, Kuiper or Oneweb, but seriously affect the safety of astronauts. It is not strange that China has dedicated much of 2024 To fortify its Tiangong Space Station to protect it from spatial garbage fragments and small meteoroids. But the implications of space waste are not limited only to space, they also have tangible impacts on the mainland. Not only does it affect space. As the cadence of launches increases, so do the uncontrolled falls of satellites and rockets. They almost always disintegrate in the atmosphere, but some elements, such as carbon fiber tanks, can resist the heat of the reentry even traveling 27,000 kilometers per hour. Spacex could be touching the limits of its launching capacity after suffering several incidents. The closest to a misfortune has occurred this year in the airspace of Poland, where a second stage of Falcon 9 was disintegrated. Several large fragments managed to survive the heat of the reentry and They fell near the city of Poznanincluding a subway and a half deposit on the grounds of an industrial plant. The frequent tests of new rockets are also a reason for concern. The Spacex starship has exploded twice on the Atlantic Ocean this year, causing two debris rainfall and Several deviations on commercial flights of the Caribbean or Florida. Bluen’s New Glenn rocket propeller fell out of control in the Atlantic during its debut flight, but did so at dawn, without great consequences. New ESA rules. Although there were already rules such as 25 years (which establishes that obsolete satellites must get out of orbit within a maximum period of 25 years after their useful life), the level of compliance varies according to the type and size of the object. It is only 52% for large satellites. Therefore, ESA has introduced a more strict five -year limit in its missions, seeking to set an example to establish more rigorous standards globally. All this is part of A “Zero Debris” commitment which seeks to reach an orbital environment without waste by 2030. The frame includes technical measures to avoid space garbage, actively eliminate waste through advanced technologies and foster a spatial circular economy based on the beginning of the four R: “Remove, reuse, refurbish, recycle”, eliminate, reuse, restore and recycle. In search of an international framework. It is not clear that ESA will lead the world by imposing stricter norms, because it could affect the development of new commercial constellations, but the problem of space garbage is becoming a real priority in the international legal field. There is a legal framework: the 1972 Responsibility Convention. It was applied, for example, in the case of the Kosmos 954 Soviet satellite, which spread radioactive remains over northern Canada in 1978, or when part of a Spacex Crew Dragon ship of Spacex fell on a Saskatchewan farm In 2024. In most cases, however, it is difficult to purify responsibilities, he points out A report from the University of New York. According to the report, more robust and binding international agreements are urgently needed. Image | THAT In Xataka | The new space race has created Boomerang scrap. The probability that clash against a plane has also increased

Europe’s access depends on the United States. ESA has presented a strategic plan to become independent

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Guarantee the technological autonomy of Europe in space will be key in the rearma of the European Union. He ESE Strategic Plan For the next 15 years it has just made it clear. The document, entitled “Strategy 2040: raising the future of Europe”, establishes as one of the priorities of the space agency to strengthen autonomous access to orbit and independent from NASA. At what point is that. With an annual budget of 7.7 billion euros, the European Space Agency has a powerful scientific exploration program: it has just presented The first Euclid space telescope data set, He is on his way to Jupiter’s icy moons with Juice and Has Hera traveling to the Dimorfo asteroid as a spatial defense mission. ESA also develops the Galileo navigation system of the European Commission, which is more precise than the American GPSis behind one of the most advanced land observation programs that exist: the constellation of Sentinel satellites, which is part of the European Copernicus program. Also together with the European Commission, ESA just closed An agreement of 10,000 million euros (between public and private funds) to build the constellation of Iris2 satellites. The objective: reduce the strategic disadvantage of Europe in front of the Starlink constellation and the incipient Chinese constellations. Europe also has a wide network of observatories and the ability to communicate with deep space with antennas in Madrid, Argentina and Australia. In fact, one of the NASA deep space network stations (DSN) has A station operated by INTA in Robledo de ChavelaMadrid, from where he communicates with his Martian rovers and other probes. What depends on NASA. ESA does not have its own spacecraft to transport astronauts. From the veto to Russia and its Soyuz capsules, it depends exclusively on the Crew Dragon ships of Spacex to access the International Space Station, either in NASA long -term missions or in commercial missions of short duration of the AXIOM company. The same thing happens with the Artemis missions to the moon. ESA is one of NASA’s most important partners in its lunar program. Plans to carry up to 1,500 kg of load With each flight of the Argonaut lunar moduleand has contributed a key component of the manned ship Orion: the service module. However, NASA has prioritized the presence of a Canadian astronaut in the Artemis II mission and A Japanese astronaut In the future of the launning. The giant’s rear. While that collaborates closely with NASA in many important missions, such as the detection of objects close to Earth, James Webb space telescope or the mission of recovery of land samples mars mars sample return (Now in pause), Much of its infrastructure follows the rear of the American space agency. Especially in launching capacity. In addition to the best funded space agency (25.4 billion dollars of annual budget), the United States has the most buoyant and advanced private space industry in the world. Spacex puts 80% of the mass that is launched globally a year, and is the only company, along with Rocket Lab, which usually reuses its pitchers. In recent years, Europe has had to launch some of its most important missions (including Galileo strategic satellites) in Falcon 9 rockets of Spacex for an internal crisis of pitchers. The European plan. For all the above, added to the political context, one of the central objectives of the EES in its Strategy 2040 is to reduce the dependence of the United States in spatial matters. A good part of their future public contracts will be oriented to boost the growth and competitiveness of the European private space industry. The goal is to generate more than 250,000 jobs related to space in Europe. At the same time, ESA will take advantage of its research facet to collaborate more closely with European universities in the development of new generation technologies. For this they need to attract talent to the careers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, so it starts from the work will be inspired by young people with space missions and the communication work of their astronauts, Among them Pablo Álvarez and Sara García. Reusable rockets. European releases have been stagnant in an inefficient duopoly: heavy satellites are thrown with French Ariane rockets and light satellites do it aboard Italian rockets Vega. Ariane 6 and Vega C are barely beginning to operate normally after erratic years, but its disposable nature puts Europe in a vulnerable situation against Spacex and the US New Space. Things are going to start changing. The German company Isar Aerospace could become this March 24 In the first European company that launches a commercial rocket, the Spectrum, to the land orbit. The Spanish PLD Space hopes to do it at the end of the year with the Miura 5ura rocket. There are only two examples of the effervescent panorama of European microlanzores, but all have in common the support of the ESA and ambitious plans to turn their rockets into reusable. Pld ha announced even a manned ship called lynx. At the forefront. Recovering the lost terrain with its own reusable rocket ecosystem and manned ships is only part of the plan. ESA also plans to expand its satellite constellations, lead the world in the elimination of space garbage, participate in future orbital stations and lunar bases, and develop high thrust engines such as Spacex or Blue Origin, for which you have granted A contract to the Spanish company PANGEA AEROSPACE. He does not expect to have everything ready suddenly, but the strategic plan projects an increase in launches from 2030 and an increasing capacity to launch heavier loads at more distant orbits, without depending on foreign pitchers and without neglecting the development of other technologies, such as advanced communications systems and autonomous capabilities for asteroid surveillance. In short, give the 23 member states that finance ES an autonomous access to space. A matter of money. In return, the European Space Agency asks Europe for something very concrete: more money. Its budget is less … Read more

ESA has a plan against space debris, but it needs help

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The problem of space junk It’s getting more and more serious. Fragments of parts used in space missions are left wandering around the Earth until, at best, they deorbit and they return to our planet, burning as they cross the atmosphere and reducing to ashes. But other problems can also occur. For example, in the time they remain floating in space they can collide with each other producing a domino effect or, directly, collide with a satellite or even with a ship or space station. Furthermore, upon returning to Earth they may not burn sufficiently and escape the control of scientists on Earth, falling in unexpected places and causing accidents. For all this, the European Space Agency (ESA) has launched a plan aimed at finding a way to reduce trash in space to zero. It won’t be easy. In fact, some technologies are required that do not yet exist today. However, ESA has warned that this is not the biggest challenge of their plan. The most difficult thing will be to obtain the necessary collaboration of other space agenciesboth public and private. Everyone must agree to put measures in place to end space debris and they must do it together, informing the rest of the companies of each step. That will be the most difficult, because even though today we no longer talk about a competition as marked as when the United States faced the Soviet Union, all agencies want to be first and, to do so, sometimes they forget about the common good. That is the first thing we will have to work with and, without a doubt, it will be even more difficult than creating cutting-edge technologies capable of eliminating space debris. Why is the problem of space debris so serious? As explained in Universe Todaythere are billions of pieces of space junk orbiting Earth, and more than 25,000 of those pieces they are bigger than 10cm. It may seem that 10 centimeters is not enough, but that is enough to produce a dangerous crash. The space is immense, but the area occupied by all those pieces is not that large. They are all in orbit around the Earth. For this reason, it would not be difficult for them to collide with each other or with some object of human construction that is still in operation. These pieces can have many origins. Some are remnants of explosions during missions gone wrong. Others are objects that had a long useful life; but, once their mission was accomplished, they went out and were left to wander around the Earth. There are also remains of rockets that, once the ship they propelled was released from the Earth, were stranded in space if they did not manage to fall into the Earth. There are even smaller fragments from the ship propulsion launched from our planet or from the breakage of other larger pieces due to collision with space objects or exposure to the space environment. There is everything. Some of those objects pose a risk in space, but others pose a risk here on Earth. Space debris can cause a dangerous domino effect. According to a study published in 2022there is a 10% risk of a piece of space debris falling on a human being in the next decade. This would happen if, as we saw before, deorbits uncontrollably. At the moment it has not happened, but there have been cases of fragments of space debris that have fallen near human constructions. Or even inside. When this happens, space agencies try to wash their hands as much as possible. For this reason, at ESA they consider that international cooperation, although essential, would be very complicated. What is the ESA plan? The ESA plan consists of two parts. The first is based on prevent the release of new space junk and the second in the elimination of what is already in space. For the first, they point out a first measure that consists of using special coatings in all pieces that are launched into space. These would be responsible for preventing these pieces from being damaged by the passage of time in the inhospitable space conditions. They would also protect them from possible crashes. Thus, the release of small fragments by degradation. The second proposal to avoid releasing new space debris consists of using new forms of propulsion. Many of those currently used release small fragments in the process that later become space debris. For example, options could be tested based on the electromagnetism. A lot of research would be needed, but ESA considers it viable. Of course, they also propose better surveillance of everything that is released into space. There must be constant monitoring systems. It is not valid to leave free pieces to their fate without any type of control. As for the removal of space debris that is already accumulating, the measures would be even more complicated, but not impossible. New technologies would be needed capable of deorbiting in a controlled manner those fragments that, in monitoring, prove to be dangerous. There are already some inventions along these lines and, although they are not widely used, the first prototypes have been very promising. Collaboration is essential to eliminate space debris There are already companies, public and private, that have their own mechanisms to release less space debris. However, the majority are still a kind of spacewashingwhere they wash their faces with small measures that do not even equal the damage they do on the other hand. Image of the Starship debris just a few days ago. This is, for example, the case of SpaceX. Elon Musk’s company has been researching the use of reusable rockets. This is very useful to prevent the accumulation of space debris. However, it continues to launch thousands and thousands of satellites into space that could become space debris and, furthermore, it does not stop carrying out test flights of its ships, knowing that many of them will go wrong and release garbage into space. … Read more

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