June 2019
The challenge of planetary protection
... system environments or historical sites, and does not protect Earth from man-made space objects (i.e. space debris) or from the impact of large asteroids or comets (i.e. planetary defence). Members of the COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection (see...
12 March 2018
Satellite-servicing space drones set for launch in 2020
... drones could be used for additional tasks such as supporting low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations and active-debris-removal (ADR) missions. The diminutive craft’s longer term uses could also include support for asteroid...
October 2025
The law as a last line of defence when space debris hit home
...benefit is that market share liability could prove an incentive for States to focus on reducing their production of large debris. A downside, however, is because the model works on mutual cooperation, you cannot force States to contribute to the fund...
November 2025
Extra-terrestrial Skyring: managing space debris with an artificial planetary ring
...limit will remain as dispersed material, but if it is outside the limit it will tend to clump. If we assume that space debris is comprised mainly of metal alloys with a mean density of 5000 kg/m3 (and assume an Earth density of 5500 kg/m3), the Roche...
12 November 2018
"Its Business Time" for Rocket Lab's first commercial flight
Signalling indeed that “It’s Business Time,” Rocket Lab’s aptly named mission saw the company’s first commercial launch successfully deploy six small satellites into a low-Earth orbit over the weekend; a move that opens up the floodgates for a ...
September 2016
URBOCOP: saving planet Earth
... danger that has a number of defining characteristics. There is a significant difference between man-made space debris and natural space debris (such as meteoroids). Meteors arrive unannounced from the depths of space, quickly pass through near-Earth...
