Amelia Andersdotter - Space Debris

En titt på EU:s rymdprogram

Valeria Velazco — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 14:46:58 +0000

Language Swedish

Vad associerar vi rymden med? Star Wars? Star Trek? Ja varför inte - människor som alltid är sena (inklusive mig) har alltid drömt om att kunna (och lyckas) teleportera sig. Mer sannolikt, så ser vi rymden som en sektor av spetsforskning och innovation. Visionerna om att nå rymden och dess framstående vetenskapliga och teknologiska potential har motiverat mänsklighetens intelligens och färdigheter att skapa nya material och ny teknik, så att vi ska kunna förstå jordens miljö. Vissa europeiska länder har skaffat relativa dugliga erfarenheter exempelvis, Frankrike, Tyskland och Italien. Den Europeiska rymdorganisationen (ESA) har skapat ett effektivt samarbete för fredliga rymdaktiviteter mellan många europeiska länder. Nu vill EU uppmuntra och ta fördel av dessa aktiviteter.

Det är sant att resulterande teknologier är viktiga och växande: tack vare satelliterna har vi internetkommunikation, radiosändningar, GPS system och observationstjänster. Självklart är roten av denna industri fortfarande de försvarsorienterade och aktiva militära satelliterna, som täcker omloppsbanorna runt jorden och som nådde sin topp under det sista decenniet av Kalla Kriget. Även de huvudsakliga aktiviteterna som lansering och tillverkning av rymdskepp, är helt eller delvis under kontroll av nationella, militära myndigheter. Men den civila sektorn tar mer och mer plats i frågan Rymden. EU vill utöka den sociala och ekonomiska verksamheten för rymdaktiviteter - vilket är mycket välkommet. Trots allt så kommer det mesta av pengarna för rymdforskning från folket.

Exempelvis så är EU:s investeringar i rymdforskning och ny kapacitet så som Galileo och Copernicus, nyckelverktyg som kommer behöva vårt stöd. Galileo, Europas motsvarighet till GPS, kommer sammanlagt att ha 30 satelliter under civil kontroll. Det betyder att Eu kommer kunna bli oberoende från militärt kontrollerad amerikansk GPS p.g.a. att ekonomin kommer då tillåta detta. Copernicus kommer att täcka ett x antal satelliter för att observera jorden.

Detaljerna för dessa två program behöver vi ta tag i, precis som för EU:s övriga globala strategier. Det gäller speciellt för vilken data som kommer att göras tillgängligt. Data vi får ut från rymdforskning måste vara enkel att få tag på därför att många intresserar sig av den, men mest för att pengarna för forskningen är skattepengar.

Något annat som kommer behövas inför framtiden är planering så att kollisioner mellan satelliter och med rymdskrot inte uppkommer. EU vill sätta upp en ”varningstjänst" så att satellitägaren eller operatören vet när en rymdfarkost kommer så man kan undvika kollision i framtiden. Denna lösning skulle spara tid och pengar. Samtidigt skyddas integriteten hos alla de som använder sig av operatörens data.

English

Looking at EU space assets

Julien Bencze — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 14:20:58 +0000

Language English

What do we associate space with? Star wars? It can be, we actually had a “cold” one, years ago. Star Trek ? Yeeeees, people that are always late (including me) have literally dreamt of being instantly (and successfully if possible!) teleported. More down to earth, we can also consider space as being a sector of top research and innovation. The hostile laws of physics to reach space and its great scientific and technological potential have motivated human intelligence and skills to create new materials and technologies, and understand better THE earth environment. Some European countries have acquired a relatively solid experience, France, Germany, Italy… The European Space Agency (ESA) has been performing an efficient cooperation for peaceful space activities between many more European countries. Now the EU wants to encourage and benefits from such activities.

It’s true that “downstream” space applications are important and growing: thanks to the satellites we can have internet connexion, broadcasting, navigation system and earth observation services. Of course, the root of this industry is still defence-oriented with old and active military satellites covering the orbits and whose reign reached its peak during the last decades of the Cold War. Also the main activities such as the launching and manufacturing of space crafts are entirely or partly under national, military assets. But the civil sector is surely taking more “room” in space, and the fact that the EU wants to better diffuse social and economic benefits of space activities is welcomed. After all, most of the money in space comes from the public.

For example, the investments of the EU into space research and new capacities such as Galileo and Copernicus, are key tools that will need our support. Galileo, Europe’s own navigation system, will gather 30 satellites, under civil control, and will enable the EU economy to be independent from the military-ruled, American “GPS”. Copernicus will cover a bunch of satellites to observe the earth.

The details of these two main programs and the global EU strategy would need to be taken care of, in particular as regards the data available. Space data will need to be easily accessible because of a high downstream potential, and also because it mostly comes from tax payers' money.

Avoiding the collision of spacecrafts with space debris or with other spacecrafts will also be needed in the mid-long term. The EU wants to set-up a service of “alert” sent to the satellite owner or operator in order for him to avoid the collision of its spacecraft in time. Such service should result in substantial time and money saving for the satellite operator while preserving the integrity of all the downstream applications depending on it.

Svenska

Mission: Space Debris

Ásta Helgadóttir — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:51:08 +0000

Language English

Rumour has it that Amelia is building a Death Star. It is a very serious project, and because of that she has been appointed as the main rapporteur from the European Commission for a report on Space Surveillance and Tracking with regards to Space Debris.

Space Junk, also known formally as “Space Debris” are all man made objects in space that do no longer serve a function. They just float on 10 km/s around the orbit and heighten the risk of damaging to functional satellites and spacecrafts. There's a lot of junk up there, especially after the Chinese anti-satellite missile test in 2007 when the Chinese space agency controlled a collision of a Chinese satellite by a kinetic kill vehicle. This collision alone created more than 2,000 debris and raised the amount of debris significantly.

How is it possible to prevent further developments of space debris in the space? It's difficult, but there are ideas with funky lasers or robotic arms to remove debris from our orbit. But right now, the most viable solution is to track the known space debris, building powerful radars and gather data on where everything is in the Orbit. With this data it is possible to move satellites away from possible danger and avoid the creation of more debris, also known as the Kessler syndrome, when debris create more debris.

One might think that it's easy. Technically, it is possible to create radars, keep track on what's happening and collect data. However, the military has their own defense satellites up there and other countries have their own satellites up there. Those parties are not necessarily very happy with the fact that they are traceable. It is also a question about data policies regarding the acquired data, who can access it and how should the member state share it?

International, European and national politics intertwine in space. It is an established fact that it is important to prevent further collisions as much as possible, but when it comes to space it is not clear cut how to operate. The EU legislations for space has so far been very undeveloped, so it's a challenge to find the right balance between European and national politics as well as global, to build trust and interdependence. This is after all, a global issue which will require cooperation and mutual understanding.

Exciting report, not only because we get to meet loads of amazing space people from European Space Agency and other space companies, but also because it'll definitely give us a good kick start in Amelia's Death Star mission! I'll keep you updated with how the process is going for the upcoming weeks :)