<
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/26/1093649/space-debris-engineer-european-space-agency-job-titles-future/>
"Stijn Lemmens has a cleanup job like few others. A senior space debris
mitigation analyst at the European Space Agency (ESA), Lemmens works on
counteracting space pollution by collaborating with spacecraft designers and
the wider industry to create missions less likely to clutter the orbital
environment.
Although significant attention has been devoted to launching spacecraft into
space, the idea of what to do with their remains has been largely ignored. Many
previous missions did not have an exit strategy. Instead of being pushed into
orbits where they could reenter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, satellites were
simply left in orbit at the ends of their lives, creating debris that must be
monitored and, if possible, maneuvered around to avoid a collision. “For the
last 60 years, we’ve been using [space] as if it were an infinite resource,”
Lemmens says. “But particularly in the last 10 years, it has become rather
clear that this is not the case.”"
Via Esther Schindler.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
