Space junk – developing the technology to avoid and remove debris from low Earth orbit (LEO)
Thursday 19th May 2022 from 19:00 for 19:30
Abingdon United Football Club (Northcourt Rd, OX14 1PL, Abingdon)
Space is getting congested – tens of thousands more satellites are expected to launch into low Earth orbit within the next decade. With this exponential growth in telecommunications comes a concern for potentially devastating collisions between operational and defunct satellites. Zoé Tenacci, Systems Engineer at Astroscale will present a background on the only company dedicated to in-orbit servicing across all orbits. Zoé will present some of Astroscale’s major programmes, including their ELSA-d mission to demonstrate debris removal, their ELSA-M mission designed to remove multiple pieces of debris from a single mission, and their CREAM programme – a study into collision avoidance capability, funded by the European Space Agency. Zoe will delve into theCREAM programme which is designed to generate technologies for automated systems that can determine the likelihood of orbital collisions with greater accuracy, reduce the number of false alerts by allowing reduced time between manoeuvre decisions and close approaches, and finally to optimise manoeuvre plans that are uploaded to satellites. Zoé will share some of the technology behind the missions and highlight some of Astroscale’s latest innovations, including capture technology and collision avoidance systems.
Founded in 2013 in Singapore, then Japan, the U.K, U.S.A and Israel, Astroscale is developing pioneering and scalable solutions across the spectrum of in-orbit servicing in low Earth and Geostationary (GEO) orbits. The company is developing life extension services to refuel or manoeuvre larger satellites in GEO; end of life services to remove defunct satellites in LEO, active debris removal of larger items such as upper stage rockets, and in situ space situational awareness research, designed to characterise activities in space and the space environment. Each Astroscale programme is designed to create sustainable systems and mitigate the growing and hazardous build-up of debris in space. Astroscale is also defining business cases and working with government and commercial stakeholders to develop norms, regulations, and incentives for the responsible use of space.
Speaker: Zoé Tenacci, Systems Engineer at Astroscale
Zoé Tenacci is Systems Engineer at Astroscale Ltd in the UK, based at Harwell Campus. Zoé studied Aerospace Engineering at IPSA in France and Astronautics and Space Engineering at Cranfield University in the UK. At Astroscale Zoé is leading a late collision avoidance concept ESA study and involved in Astroscale’s ELSA-M commercial debris removal service development – a programme designed to further our sustainable space efforts in LEO. Her range of experience spans from concept of operations, systems budgets to end-of-life, spacecraft re-entry analyses and space debris mitigation policies. Before joining Astroscale Ltd., Zoé previously worked at Airbus Defence & Space in the UK where she worked on Earth Observation ESA programmes in the Future Programmes & Bids team.
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoetenacci