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ESA expert highlights space debris issues
5 September 2006
| | Heiner Klinkrad has a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering. He has held a number of flight dynamics and mission analyst positions at ESA since 1980, and since 1988 he has worked on space debris. He assumed lead of ESA's Space Debris Office in 2006. Since 2001, he has also taught space debris at the Technical University of Braunschweig/ILR. In addition to a number of standardisation activities, he leads the ESA delegation to the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee and serves on the ISO (International Standards Organisation) Orbital Debris Coordination Working Group. | |  |  | |
| | | | What is the problem caused by space debris?
| | To date, one collision and over 180 explosions in space have been recorded. Further explosions and collisions are most likely. The explosions are mainly caused by onboard energy sources, either due to a pressure build-up in propellant tanks, battery explosions, or the ignition of hypergolic fuels. Each explosion creates thousands of small debris objects. | | | | |
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| | Related links ESOC: Focal point for ESA space debris activitiesSpace debris spotlightMore information United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer SpaceInter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC)
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