SatMagazine
By Pascal Wauthier, Chairman, the Space Data Association
According to a recent article, the next decade could see more satellites placed into orbit around the Earth than all of the satellites launched since Sputnik 1 in 1957. Debris is already a problem and has been the cause of some serious incidents in space. As the number of satellites is set to significantly increase, this is naturally going to become an even bigger challenge and one that the entire industry needs to work together on to avoid such incidents.
While there are a number of important factors, one of the biggest considerations is the end of satellite life procedures. Successfully re-orbiting or de-orbiting a satellite at the end of its lifetime is critical to ensuring sustainable long-term use of space…