ESA Launches Zero Debris Charter with 12 Countries

A dozen countries have officially signed the European Space Agency's (ESA) Zero Debris Charter, a significant step toward mitigating space debris.

ESA announced that Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, alongside the agency itself, have committed to the charter. Nine of these countries are full ESA members, while Lithuania and Slovakia hold associate memberships, and Cyprus has a cooperation agreement with ESA.

The Zero Debris Charter, a non-binding agreement, was developed in response to a directive from ESA member states at the 2022 ESA ministerial meeting. The goal is to achieve "zero debris" from ESA missions, ensuring no net addition of debris in orbit by 2030.

The draft charter was initially presented at a European space summit in Seville, Spain, last November.

The charter outlines several key targets to be achieved by 2030, including minimizing the risk of satellite collisions or breakups to no more than 1-in-1,000 and significantly lowering the risk of ground casualties from reentering debris to below 1-in-10,000. It also calls for the timely removal of satellites from low Earth orbit and the geostationary belt at the end of their operational lives, with a deorbiting success rate of at least 99%. However, it does not specify the exact timeframe for these satellites' deorbiting.

"The Zero Debris Charter signals Europe’s unwavering commitment to be a global leader on space debris mitigation and remediation, fostering collective action of a large community of space actors from all around the world,...The impact of the promise made today by these twelve countries on the sustainability of our future activities in space will be immense." - " Quentin Verspieren, ESA's Space Safety Program Coordinator. "

Following this initial signing by national governments, ESA plans a second signing ceremony at the ILA Berlin air show in early June.

"All together we have about 100 expressions of interest...we have some very interesting companies that are lining up for this signing." - Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General

The charter's signing coincides with the European Union's deliberations on its first space law, anticipated to include space sustainability measures. Although the European Commission has not yet released the law's text, which was initially expected earlier this year but is now delayed until summer, concerns were raised about potential conflicts with the Zero Debris Charter.

"I think it’s not either-or...But on the other hand, it’s very important that ESA is active on this going forward with, I think, really outstanding standards for zero debris." - Anna Christmann, German Federal Aerospace Coordinator and ESA Ministerial Council Chair

"I think there are two processes that really go together, aiming for the same goal, and it’s good that we see here the different roles that they can play." - Anna Christmann, German Federal Aerospace Coordinator and ESA Ministerial Council Chair

"This is, for me, a prime example of how the commission and ESA can very complementarily work together," - Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General

Aschbacher could not comment on the proposed EU space law and its potential impact on space sustainability due to the draft's unavailability. However, he noted that ESA member states have requested the agency's assistance in interpreting the law once published, to understand its implications on national space activities.

"Certainly, there will be an impact of the space law on how we develop programs,"- Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General