The Clean Space team invites the space community to a webinar on ‘Guidelines for Safe and Sustainable Close Proximity Operations for In-Orbit Servicing’.


Globally, there is a strong heritage in In-Orbit Servicing (IOS) – from the initial repair missions to Skylab in 1973 through to the servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope and those on the International Space Station (ISS). In these previous missions, astronauts played a crucial role in carrying out servicing operations. Such missions therefore had to be human-rated, adopting specific safety requirements to ensure the safety of the crew for the mission.

In recent times there has been increasing interest in IOS missions for commercial purposes. These missions however should not involve any humans in space. Commercial missions require low-cost solutions and therefore demand a different approach to safety compared to human-rated missions. However to date there are no requirements or guidelines on how to perform commercial In Orbit Servicing in a safe and sustainable manner.

Since 2019, ESA has been working with a number of European stakeholders to derive a set of Technical Guidelines together with a list of defined terms compiled in a much-needed glossary. Such guidelines could be adopted by future commercial IOS missions to ensure their safety.

The ESA led Working Group (WG) with European participation involved stakeholders from different areas of the space industry such as:

  • Space system integrators
  • Space equipment suppliers
  • Operators
  • Insurers
  • Space agencies: ESA and national agencies
  • Universities

Webinar

Adina Cotuna, Satellite Systems Engineer at ESA, will provide an overview on the technical guidelines ESA has been working on, highlighting the process and methods that were used to derive them.

At the end of the webinar, you will understand:

  • The need for European guidelines on ‘close proximity operations’
  • The type of technical recommendations included in the first issue of the Technical Guidelines
  • How to access the Technical Guidelines

Join the ESA Clean Space team live on Thursday, 1st of July 2021, at 15:00 CEST.

How to register

Representatives of space agencies, industries and academia are invited to join this webinar. Click on this link to register before Sunday, 26 June 2021.

Learn more