Space sustainability in Martian orbits — First insights in a technical and regulatory analysis

Hazards from the outer space environment either natural (space weather and asteroids) or artificial (space debris and the growing number of satellites launched to orbit) pose a rising risk to space flight activities. The awareness for space sustainability and space safety has seen a continuous incre...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of space safety engineering 2020-09, Vol.7 (3), p.439-446
Main Authors: Suchantke, Isabell, Letizia, Francesca, Braun, Vitali, Krag, Holger
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Hazards from the outer space environment either natural (space weather and asteroids) or artificial (space debris and the growing number of satellites launched to orbit) pose a rising risk to space flight activities. The awareness for space sustainability and space safety has seen a continuous increase in recent years and does not stop at the Earth's sphere of influence. The first spacefaring nations start thinking about sustainability in cislunar space and the Martian environment. This work deals with the issue of space debris in Martian orbits in the light of planetary protection. A Mars Sustainability Framework has been developed. This includes a study on the orbital and regulatory environment of Mars, long-term propagation of orbits of artificial objects and the two natural moons, and the analysis of objects evolution and first approaches for collision probability computation. With this work, the issue of space debris beyond Earth orbit is analysed at an early stage.
ISSN:2468-8967
2468-8967
DOI:10.1016/j.jsse.2020.07.003