Together against space debris - OHB signs Zero Debris Charter

Berlin/Bremen, 6 June 2024 –Space debris threatens our infrastructure in space. Almost every week, parts of old satellites or burnt-out rocket stages enter the Earth's atmosphere. Although the risk of being hit by space debris on Earth is still low, it poses a growing threat to space stations such as the ISS and active satellites. To avoid being hit by debris, they have to fly evasive manoeuvres more and more frequently.

To prevent the amount of space debris from increasing indefinitely, the European Space Agency (ESA) has set itself the goal of designing its future missions in such a way that they become debris-neutral by 2030. As part of this initiative, the so-called "Zero Debris Charter" was developed in collaboration with stakeholders in the European space industry. The document defines both overarching guiding principles and specific targets to significantly reduce the amount of space debris by 2030. OHB was one of the first supporters of this endeavour.

The charter was signed by ESA and twelve European countries – including Germany – at the ESA/EU Space Council on 22 May 2024. Today at the ILA in Berlin, the signatures of numerous companies and academic partners as well as several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) followed. Dr Markus Moeller, Chief Strategy and Development Officer, signed on behalf of OHB.