Context: Recently, 12 nations, along with the European Space Agency (ESA), have recently signed the Zero Debris Charter at the 11th ESA/EU Space Council.

• Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom have all pledged to adhere to the charter.

• This initiative, first introduced at the ESA Space Summit in November 2023, aims to lead global efforts in space debris mitigation and remediation.

What is the Zero Debris Charter?

• The Zero Debris Charter is an effort to become debris-neutral in space by 2030.

• It was unveiled at the ESA Space Summit in Seville meeting in November 2023.

• ESA’s Zero Debris approach is the ESA’s large-scale revision of its internal space debris mitigation requirements to become debris-neutral by 2030.

• Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom have all pledged to adhere to the charter. 

• Over 100 organizations have also promised to sign the community-led endeavor in the coming months.

Significance of the charter

• The Charter’s signing represents the first time countries have subscribed at the national level, boosting Europe as a leader in clean space while demonstrating widespread acceptance of the charter. 

• It 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 by these twelve countries on the sustainability of our future activities in space will be immense.

Space Debris

• Space junk, or space debris, is any piece of machinery or debris left by humans in space.

• It can refer to big objects such as dead satellites that have failed or been left in orbit at the end of their mission. 

• It can also refer to smaller things, like bits of debris or paint flecks that have fallen off a rocket.

Impact of Space Debris

• Currently, there are over 1 million pieces of space debris larger than 1 cm in Earth orbit, each capable of causing catastrophic damage.

• Without action, the exponential growth of space debris could render some orbits unusable and pose increasing hazards to satellites and astronauts.

Kessler syndrome

• Kessler syndrome is an idea proposed by NASA scientist Donald Kessler in 1978.

• He said that if there was too much space junk in orbit, it could result in a chain reaction where more and more objects collide and create new space junk in the process, to the point where Earth's orbit becomes unusable.

Initiatives for Space Debris Mitigation

• Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee – Worldwide coordination of space debris related activities.

• India

1. Debris Free Space Missions (DFSM) by 2030 being implemented by ISRO System for Safe & Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM).

2. Project NETRA (NEtwork for space object TRacking and Analysis) for Space situational awareness.