Date: 10-11 June 2025
Location: ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany
As the number of objects orbiting Earth skyrockets, so does the risk of space debris collisions. Ensuring a sustainable orbital environment has become a priority — and at the heart of this mission lies the Zero Debris Charter, non-binding, community-driven initiative outlines ambitious yet measurable targets to reduce space debris by 2030. It is complemented by the Zero Debris Technical Booklet, a shared reference that helps align efforts, pinpoint capability gaps, and drive coordinated action across the space sector.
On 10–11 June 2025, together over 90 representatives from industry, academia, international organisations, and public bodies — alongside ESA participants — gathered at ESOC Conference Centre for the second Zero Debris Future Symposium. Structured around four thematic sessions, the event explored community progress, future expectations, commercial challenges, and policy developments.
Remark: The symposium took place two weeks before the release of the draft EU Space Act, which was only published by the European Commission on 25 June 2025.
🔍 Key findings from the Symposium
Regulatory Foundations for a Zero Debris Ecosystem
One message came through loud and clear: regulation is essential.
The community stressed the urgent need for clear, stable, and internationally harmonised regulatory frameworks to support a safe and sustainable space environment. Regulatory uncertainty was seen as a major barrier to investment, while technology-neutral, performance-based rules — developed in close consultation with the technical community — were identified as key enablers of innovation.
Participants cautioned against fragmented or overly prescriptive approaches, which could undermine both effectiveness and the commercial viability of Zero Debris solutions. Instead, they supported flexible licensing based on minimum requirements such as deorbit capability, space situational awareness, and end-of-mission plans.
The concept of regulatory sandboxes — allowing operators to simulate compliance with future rules — was welcomed as a practical tool to test and refine approaches before formal adoption.
They strongly advocated for a unified European regulatory baseline to reduce fragmentation, enable via Low Earth Orbit (LEO) insurance models, and build long-term confidence.
Finally, participants called for policy stability beyond political cycles, grounded in evidence, sustainability, and competitiveness.
Research, Innovation, Demonstration, and Technology Maturation
In-orbit demonstration (IOD) was recognised as a critical enabler for advancing Zero Debris technologies, especially those at early development stages (TRL ≤5). While existing opportunities are valued, the community called for expanded access to demonstration mission to overcome structural barriers to investment, market entry, and regulatory acceptance. Proving feasibility under real conditions was seen as essential to building confidence among customers, regulators, and investors.
To support this, institutional and private actors were urged to act as anchor customers, helping to reduce financial and technical risks through shared infrastructure, recurring missions, and early-stage procurement.
The Zero Debris Technical Booklet was praised as a crucial tool for aligning stakeholders and identifying technology gaps, with strong support for keeping it a living document, updated regularly to reflect emerging needs and capabilities.
To help turn promising ideas into space-ready solutions, the community called for targeted support to help early-stage technologies to move from the lab to space, given the long development cycles and strict certification requirements.
Lastly, they stressed the need to consider the environmental impact — especially as deorbiting increases — to avoid shifting the debris burden from space to Earth.
Market Conditions and Commercialisation Challenges
Despite growing awareness, the Zero Debris market remains nascent, fragmented, and highly policy dependent. Current demand signals are still too weak and unstable to drive large-scale private-sector investment, with many viewing debris mitigation as an “nice-to-have” rather than a strategic need.
The community identified several structural barriers to commercialisation — including the lack of standardised business models, long qualification cycles, and most notably, the absence of insurable pathways for LEO operations, which was seen as a major obstacle to risk-sharing and investor confidence, especially for SMEs and start-ups.
To unlock market potential, participants emphasised the importance of early institutional demand and clear policy signalling. Public procurement and co-development initiatives were also highlighted as vital for de-risking emerging technologies, validating new solutions, and accelerating adoption.
Finally, the community called for shared support tools — such as a publicly accessible Zero Debris technology database, benchmarking indicators, and matchmaking platforms — to improve visibility, enable coordination, and guide investment decisions across the ecosystem.
Community Development, Outreach, and Capacity-Building
The community reaffirmed its dual role as both a technical platform and a strategic convenor, with a strong focus on inclusivity and collaboration across the space sector. Expanding engagement — especially with SMEs, academia, and emerging space nations — was seen as essential for lasting impact.
Participants highlighted the need to improve understanding of the Zero Debris Charter’s non-binding, ambition-driven nature, which remains often misunderstood and can limit broader participation and alignment within organisations.
Key proposals included launching a Zero Debris Ambassador network to support international awareness-raising and capacity-building, embedding sustainability into university curricula, and developing an ESA-supported certification programme to help close the growing skills gap in space sustainability.
The community also advocated for clearer technical standards, shared definitions, improved data access, and closer alignment with ESG frameworks to enhance institutional credibility and investor confidence.
Finally, the community urged to look beyond 2030 and begin preparing for a broader space sustainability agenda — including in-orbit servicing, refuelling, and life extension — to ensure long-term leadership, continuity of purpose, and lasting impact.
🛠️ Key proposed community actions
Emerging from the discussions held at the Zero Debris Symposium, the Zero Debris Community puts forward the following priority actions to accelerate progress towards the 2030 Zero Debris targets and ensuring long-term sustainability in orbit:
1. Contribute to a coherent and flexible European regulatory baseline
Contribute to a coherent European regulatory baseline that defines clear, minimum, and technology-neutral requirements for responsible space operations, while preserving flexibility for innovation and proportionality across mission types and operator capacities. This includes actively providing information to policymaking and regulatory organisations and exploring tools — such as regulatory sandboxes — to help them test, inform, and refine emerging frameworks.
2. Expand In-Orbit Demonstration opportunities
Increase access to in-orbit demonstration (IOD) opportunities through institutional and private providers to de-risk early-stage technologies and support commercial uptake.
3. Strengthen the role of the Zero Debris Technical Booklet as a shared innovation & collaboration compass
Maintain and update the Zero Debris Technical Booklet as a living instrument for identifying technical gaps, aligning expectations, and informing both regulatory and procurement decisions across national and industrial contexts.
4. Enable market transparency and investment readiness
Support the creation of shared tools and resources — including a technology database, benchmarking indicators, and matchmaking platforms — to improve visibility, comparability, and investment confidence for Zero Debris solutions across public procurement, private investment, and cross-border coordination.
5. Develop targeted training and capacity-building initiatives
Collaborate with academic and professional partners to develop dedicated curricula, certification programmes, or sustainability modules to address the emerging skillset required across the space sector.
6. Promote international liaison and outreach
Support the development of coordinated international engagement mechanisms — such as Zero Debris Ambassadors — to build awareness, share good practices, and strengthen global alignment on orbital sustainability, particularly with emerging spacefaring nations and regions not yet engaged in the Zero Debris Charter.
7. Prepare for a post-2030 sustainability framework
While the 2030 Zero Debris targets remain the immediate focus, the community recognises the need to gradually address interconnected challenges — such as space traffic management, in-orbit servicing, refuelling, and life extension. Without modifying the Charter, a forward-looking reflection should be initiated to ensure long-term alignment with the broader goal of a circular and sustainable space economy.
8. Foster an autonomous and self-sustaining community architecture
Encourage the development of a more distributed and resilient governance model for the Zero Debris Community — including community-led events, working groups, and resource-sharing platforms — to reduce reliance on any single institution and to reinforce shared ownership across the growing network of signatories.
Disclaimer:
The discussions and findings presented reflect the state of community dialogue as of the Zero Debris Future Symposium held on 10–11 June 2025. As previously stated, they do not take into account the content or implications of the EU Space Act, published by the European Commission on 25 June 2025, which was released after the Symposium took place. Any references to regulatory frameworks or policy needs are therefore based on the pre-existing legislative landscape at the time of the event.
Additionally, this article does not, in any way, reflect the official position or views of the European Space Agency (ESA).
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