Swiss Space Sustainability Research Days

6 Jan 2025, 10:00 → 8 Jan 2025, 14:00 Europe/Zurich

The Glacier Hotel (Eurotel Victoria) - Les Diablerets

Lucie Ryser (EPFL), Candice Norhadian, Emmanuelle David (EPFL), Marnix Verkammen (EPFL)

 

Welcome to the Swiss Space Sustainability Research Days.
This engaging event aims to bring together all the experts from major Swiss research institutions and industries with high R&D needs on the topic.

The topics that will be addressed during our 3-day event are:

• Impact of space activities on the Earth and space environments
• Technologies for space sustainability 
• Use of space technologies for Earth sustainability
• Space weather implications on space sustainability
• Implications of space activities on astronomy (Dark and Quiet Skies)
• Law and policy, Ethics, and Economics of space sustainability.

We expect that the event will gather more than 50 experts (PhDs, postdocs, senior researchers, professors, R&D specialists, industries), who will spend 2 days discussing the latest developments in the field of space sustainability. The agenda will be defined by the scientific committee based on submitted abstracts and will include presentations, discussions, and a roundtable.

Space Sustainability should not be a side topic within main Swiss research activities, but a priority!

Our confirmed invited speakers include:
Ludovic Monnerat (Swiss armed forces)
Emmanuelle David (EPFL)
Lucia Kleint (Unibern)
Prof. Jean-Paul Kneib (EPFL)
Dr Natalia Archinard (Space portfolio at Swiss FDFA)
Josef Koller (Amazon Kuiper)
Camilla Colombo (Politecnico di Milano)

Who can participate?

Any researcher with an affiliation with a Swiss university, a Swiss organisation, or with a strong connection to Swiss researchers.

The event will take place on January 6-8, 2025 at Eurotel Victoria in Les Diablerets.

Monday 6 January

Arrivals & Check ins

12:30 Lunch

Monday Afternoon: Keynotes

1 Emmanuelle David (EPFL)

2 Lucia Kleint (Unibern)

3 Dr Natalia Archinard (Space portfolio at Swiss DFAE)

15:30 Break

Monday Afternoon: Keynotes

4 Ludovic Monnerat (Swiss Armed Forces)

5 "Next challenges in Space Research" by Camilla Colombo (Politecnico di Milano)

6 Action of Amazon Kuiper on Space Sust and needs to the research community" by Josef Koller (Amazon Kuiper)

Online presentation.

17:30 Icebreaker Game

18:30 Social Activity

19:30 Dinner

Tuesday 7 January

Tuesday Morning: Keynotes

Tuesday Morning: Impact of Space activities

7 Zero Debris vs Net Zero Debris: Why the Difference Matters for the Future of Space Activities

The concerns regarding the proliferation of space debris and its consequential collision risk have transcended the confines of specialized departments within major space agencies and a narrow community of space debris experts, given rise to a plethora of policies, standards and guidelines, generated by public and private organizations.

The approach to the space debris issue is no longer limited to the application of technical standards on space debris mitigation to new space missions but encompasses a much larger set of policies. As part of this trend, the view that we need to move towards “zero debris space activities” has gained momentum. While appealing, this concept can be misleading and could lead to unintended consequences, such as the creation of impediments to the development of necessary remediation technologies.

This presentation intends to clarify the differences between a net-zero and a zero debris approach, arguing that only the former can be pursued due to the nature of the problem. It will highlight contradictions between a zero debris approach and the standards and guidelines published so far. It will also discuss the fundamental differences between high-level principles and actionable requirements. Ensuring that the latter are applicable to and supportive of space debris remediation is critical to the long-term sustainability of outer space activities.

Pursuing a net-zero debris approach that brings a holistic risk perspective, rather than an approach treating space objects individually, will be key to propelling the development of remediation approaches and facilitating their wide scale adoption. A net-zero debris approach faces one important hurdle: it requires the definition of a metric to compare risk. The presentation will discuss some of the direction such metric could take, discussing both the technical and political aspects.

Finally, the presentation will also discuss the moral hazard that has been a key concern of remediation technologies in the climate change domain, such as solar radiation modification and carbon capture, which we believe is of lesser concern in space.

Speaker: Romain Buchs

8 Estimating the environmental impacts of human activities related to space with Life Cycle Assessment: Status quo and outlook

Environmental impacts of products and services used in each of the three segments (space/launch/ground) are best evaluated with a holistic view by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This method standardized in ISO 14040 and 14044 is already adapted to space in the ESA Space LCA Handbook. Industry as well as academia and governmental organisations have performed several LCA studies in the past years.
However, the LCA methodology still needs to be adapted and extended to better model the space sector. Stakeholders work together to increase the quality of LCA results and fill important gaps: Collaborative projects and proposals, regular workshops organized by the University of Stuttgart, or task forces and groups working towards and update of the LCA guidelines or new EU regulations.
This presentation will give an overview of the status quo of LCA applied in the space sector. It will then detail important knowledge gaps. Major keywords with regards to gaps are the emissions related to launch an re-entry and their impacts on the environment, space debris as well as material into deep sea, prospective and dynamic LCA, and tools to combine the specifics of mission engineering with LCA.
The presentation will conclude by presenting the various initiatives within Europe which aim to push the calculation of environmental impacts of human activities related to space to be more complete and to a high quality level.

Speaker: Ms Karin Treyer (Paul Scherrer Institute)

9 A Numerical Approach for Dynamic Fragmentation: Challenges in Achieving Reliable Statistics for Space Debris

During high-energy events, such as explosions or impacts, solids and structures undergo rapid, catastrophic failure. Cracks initiate from material defects, propagate at high speeds, and branch out, eventually coalescing to form fragments. This chaotic process is marked by the propagation and interaction of stress waves throughout the solid and repeated contact among crack faces and the moving debris particles. Known as dynamic fragmentation, this phenomenon is of particular concern in the aerospace industry. The growing number of orbiting objects around Earth increases the risk of collisions, leading to the generation of more debris and potentially creating a cascading effect. Accurate predictive models are urgently needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of orbits and space operations.

Our research focuses on enhancing the understanding and simulation capabilities regarding the mechanics of dynamic fragmentation. It builds on prior knowledge from the laboratory, drawing notably from extensive studies on the effects of material heterogeneity [1] and contact between fragments [2]. Using the in-house open-source software Akantu [3], we are developing new numerical methods based on the existing Cohesive Zone Model (CZM) for fracture. The primary objective is to provide a reliable and scalable predictive tool for key quantities, that could include statistical distributions of fragment mass, size, shape, and velocity; depending on material properties and loading conditions. For larger-scale 2D and 3D simulations, challenges arise from the combination of short time-scales, high loading rates, and the need for efficient numerical schemes. Both stability and accuracy of the employed methods impact the reliability of the statistical data produced. These challenges are addressed by incorporating different stabilizing approaches, and collaborating with a Swiss-French consortium on the development of a novel Cohesive Lipschitz Approach (CLIP), designed to overcome the current limitations of CZM.

This work aims to provide a reliable, physics-based, scalable and open-source numerical tool. It will contribute to the prediction of space debris formation and promote the long-term sustainability of space operations.

[1] S. Levy and J. Molinari, “Dynamic fragmentation of ceramics, signature of defects and scaling of fragment sizes,” Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, vol. 58, no. 1, p. 12–26, Jan. 2010.

[2] M. Vocialta and J.-F. Molinari, “Influence of internal impacts between fragments in dynamic brittle tensile fragmentation,” International Journal of Solids and Structures, vol. 58, pp. 247–256, 2015.

[3] N. Richart, G. Anciaux, E. Gallyamov, L. Frérot, D. Kammer, M. Pundir, M. Vocialta, A. C. Ramos, M. Corrado, P. M¨uller, F. Barras, S. Zhang, R. Ferry, S. Durussel, and J.-F. Molinari, “Akantu: an hpc finite-element library for contact and dynamic fracture simulations,” Journal of Open Source Software, vol. 9, no. 94, p. 5253, Feb. 2024.

Speaker: Mr Thibault Ghesquière-Diérickx (EPFL, LSMS)

10 Sustainability for space - Identified knowledge and data gaps, and research opportunities

Whilst the focus of the space industry may have primarily been on increasing sustainability in space with space debris mitigation efforts, a growing international effort is put into sustainability for space. This includes the various actions to understand the environmental impacts on Earth of the space sector and to mitigate these impacts during the engineering phase of space missions. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the common methodology for this and work is ongoing to simplify it for use during early design phases.

However, many knowledge and data gaps still exist in this field. To understand the current state-of-the-art and state-of-affairs in the assessment of the environmental impacts and ecodesign in the space sector, EPFL performed a comprehensive research. Time has been allocated during several recent projects to review literature, interview experts and industrial partners, and apply simplified, space-specific Life Cycle Assessment to concrete cases.

As a consequence, knowledge gaps and data have been identified and are discussed in this presentation. They are divided into four categories: lack of robust data in LCA databases, methodological gaps, new LCA impact categories and qualitative assessment, and high altitude atmospheric impacts. In this presentation, for each of these gaps, a general context is given, ongoing projects are listed, and potential opportunities are highlighted.

Regarding the LCA data robustness, one must differentiate foreground data and background data. The former represents the system under study, and its data is usually known or can be collected by the LCA practitioner. The latter comes from databases, which gain robustness when populated with space-specific, up-to-date datasets. When assessing future systems, data about future technologies or processes might be missing or not appropriate.

The LCA methodology and tools for the space sector need to be adapted to cover the specificities of the space sector. In particular, simplified LCA is needed for implementing an ecodesign process early enough in the long development timelines that characterise space systems. But the full LCA methodology, used later on in projects, for reporting purposes, also needs to be adapted to be space-specific.

Indeed, the space sector generates some specific impacts that are not or almost not covered by standard Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods. These include space debris risk in space, impacts on the oceans when objects are falling back down after launch or after end-of-life, special risks from chemicals that fall under the REACH regulation, or the use of materials listed as critical raw materials (CRMs) by the European Union.

Finally, the launch and re-entry phases are not sufficiently taken into account in LCA studies. To date, most studies exclude these phases because the emissions and following impacts are unknown or have too large uncertainties. But first estimates show that they could completely dominate the environmental impacts in terms of climate change, ozone depletion, and others. Measurements, experiments in laboratory, and atmospheric modelling are needed together to improve the understanding of high atmospheric emissions from launcher propulsion and demise during reentry. Later, defining characterization factors for different heights in the atmosphere will be necessary to include in the life cycle impact assessment.

Overall, this presentation highlights the various research gaps and shows that further efforts are needed to fill them. Working on these gaps will greatly improve the assessments of (future) space systems, which would in turn increase the confidence in the results, encouraging more space actors to use them for key decision-making of future systems’ design. Industry players would then be able to stay compliant with regulations, lower and anticipate risks, and effectively implement an ecodesign approach supported by robust evidence.

Speaker: Mathieu Udriot (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL))

10:30 Break

Tuesday Morning: Workshop/Roundtable

12:30 Lunch

Tuesday Afternoon: Poster Session

11 Student SSA Team Efforts in Tracking and Detecting Orbital Debris

The Space Situational Awareness (SSA) student team at EPFL is dedicated to developing
methods for tracking space objects and monitoring orbital debris to prevent satellite collisions
and promote space sustainability. The team works with two telescopes—one with a 36 cm
diameter and the other with a 13 cm diameter—and is in the process of building a cupola to
house the telescopes. This effort blends student research with hands-on engineering, aiming
to improve the detection and analysis of objects in Earth’s orbit.
One of the team’s key projects focuses on enhancing the detection of objects in telescope images.
The first method used a neural network (U-Net) trained on synthetic data to detect streaks,
showing good results. However, it was limited by the need for pixel-level annotations, which
made it difficult to apply to new data. The second method, which involved transfer learning
from an existing model, achieved strong initial results and was further improved with SSA’s
data, showing even better performance. This method is more flexible and scalable, making it
the preferred option for future use.
Another major project involved using an algorithm to calculate satellite trajectories from
telescope images. This technique allows for quick calculations, enhancing the team’s ability
to assess satellite paths. The team also explored various radar and radiofrequency methods
for object detection, including radar systems designed to measure speed and distance. Their
findings suggest that a combined radar and passive detection system would offer the best
accuracy for identifying and locating objects.
Additionally, the team has worked on techniques to detect slow-moving satellites using images
from the OMEGACAM on the VLT Survey Telescope, conducted trajectory simulations, and
explored methods for estimating collision probabilities.

Speakers: Aurélien Genin (EPFL), Josué Aubert (EPFL), Valentin Meier (EPFL)

12 Detailed Brightness Analysis of NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) from ground-based optical Observations

NASA recently launched its Advanced Composite Solar Sail technology demonstration mission. In late August, the 12U CubeSat deployed four 7 m long composite booms to span an ~80 m2 solar sail with an edge length of 9 m, consisting of four 20 m2 aluminized polyethylene terephthalate (PET) solar sail quadrants. The spacecraft is on a dawn-dusk sun-synchronous orbit (DD-SSO) at about 1000 km altitude which means that it is visible from almost everywhere on earth during the beginning of the night. The large surface area and its reflective material result in the sail being amongst the brightest objects in the night-sky. We present results from observational data collected by IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS) Sathub, which organises observation campaigns for such very bright satellites in order to determine the influences of such large infrastructure in orbit on ground based optical observations. ACS3 is a technology demonstration which means that we do not expect many of these objects compared to satellites of similar size like BlueWalker3, which will be part of a constellation in LEO. Nevertheless, ACS3 is an interesting candidate to investigate the implications of such large-scale infrastructures on astronomy. We observed ACS3 before and after sail deployment with two optical ground stations specifically designed for tracking LEO satellites to acquire photometric lightcurves and noticed large brightness variations due to the spacecraft tumbling. Since attitude control was disabled during deployment, tumbling was expected. By the time writing this abstract detumbling of the satellite was still ongoing. We have obtained lightcurves from several passes indicating a peak apparent V-band magnitude of 3 which is about 40 times brighter than the current International Astronomical Union recommendation of magnitude 7. Further, we observed glints that occasionally reached magnitude 0, a brightness in the same order of magnitude as BlueWalker3.

Speaker: Stephan Hellmich (EPFL)

13 Space-based surveillance of Resident Space Objects with the CHEOPS space telescope

The ever-growing competition in space exploration has led to the accumulation of a great number of space debris in orbit, which constitutes a threat to active satellites, manned missions and the future of space exploration. To complement ground based Space Situational Awareness (SSA) networks composed of surveillance telescopes, radars and laser stations there is a growing interest in using space-based sensors that can provide almost real-time space based information on space resident objects in Earth orbits.
The CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) is a partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Switzerland with important contributions by 10 additional ESA Member States. It is the first S-class mission in the ESA Science Programme and has been flying on a Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit since December 2019, collecting millions of short-exposure images in the visible domain to study exoplanet properties. A small but increasing fraction of CHEOPS images shows linear trails caused by resident space objects (RSO) crossing the instrument field of view. Although these trails are not useful to the science mission they can be used as serendipitous and important information for space surveillance purposes.
A line detection and analysis algorithm has been created to study the entire data set presently stored by CHEOPS. Currently, more than 5000 streaks have been detected, of which around 2000 correspond to unidentified objects in the present public catalogue from US SpaceTrack. This large number of trail detections enabled us to find interesting trends in the RSO population. These stem from brightness analysis of the lines and the corresponding estimation of the albedo of catalogued objects.
The work developed here shows that present space-based observatories in LEO to MEO orbits can provide very useful information for space surveillance monitoring without major changes to their primary scientific mission. It also works as a proof of concept for future space-based surveillance of RSOs and the space debris field. With the first CHEOPS mission extension currently running until the end of 2026, and a possible second extension until the end of 2029, the longer mission time coverage will increase our dataset, making it even more valuable to the SSA community.

Speaker: Mr Luı́s Gonçalves (Universidade de Aveiro)

14 Optimization of GEO Satellites On-Orbit Refuelling for Sustainable Space Logistics

Within the last two decades, the number of objects in Earth orbits increased from around 7500 to more than 30000 in 2023. The current satellites heavily rely on one-time use. To prevent further congestion of crucial orbits, more sustainable practices for space use are imperative. Refuelling satellites in orbit extends their lifespan and reduces debris accumulation by decreasing the number of defunct satellites from fuel depletion. GEO satellites, allocating about 50% of their mass to propellant, are prime candidates for On-Orbit Refuelling (OOR) due to their durability, limited slots, and high investment, offering potential cost savings and increased utility.

This on-going project aims to design an OOR infrastructure tailored to service GEO satellites close to their End-of-Life (EOL) expecting depletion of onboard reserves. The infrastructure consists of a fuel depot and servicing spacecrafts for in-space propellant transport. For a given set of GEO clients, selected launcher, servicer and depot design, the work optimizes the OOR scenario. It suggests various mission architectures with different fuel depot locations and numbers of servicers.

The OOR design is the outcome of an iterative design procedure. Deployment, and operation of the servicing architecture are simulated. Trajectories of servicers to rendezvous with clients are the result of a cost(

)-duration trade-off. The logistics optimization problem is formulated as a Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP), and a tailored genetic algorithm minimizes mission cost or duration for routing decisions.

The developed procedure allows to evaluate OOR mission infrastructures for feasibility and performance for variable client satellites and mission constraints, enabling comparison of various infrastructures to guide preliminary system of systems design. It could assist in establishing a sustainable European logistics ecosystem for long-term servicing strategies through combining multiple refuelling missions and expansion to other servicing tasks.

Speaker: Mr Mathieu Udriot (EPFL Space Center)

15 EPFL’s Handbook on sustainable practices for spacecraft mission design

The broad topic of space sustainability is increasingly being discussed within the space sector, especially in Europe, in part thanks to regulations on sustainability reporting and the upcoming European Space Law. Nevertheless, companies nowadays have a tendency to put the emphasis on a single particular chosen aspect of sustainability (e.g. environmental impacts, dark and quiet skies considerations, space debris limitation) over others during their design phase. A lack of global knowledge is often given as an explanation for this cherry-picking, particularly within small to medium companies with human limited resources.

To fill this knowledge and resource gap, eSpace - EPFL Space Center developed a first version of its Handbook on Sustainable Mission Design, which is further detailed in this presentation. Publicly available , the handbook provides a holistic view on the major aspects to take into account when designing the space segment of a new mission: from Life Cycle Assessment considerations to general ecodesign concepts and specific propulsion, hardware and operations best practices. It highlights concisely which aspects ought to be assessed during the design phase and how they affect the rest of the space mission. The handbook is aimed at engineers, as well as managers who may not have a complete overview on all the best practices that should be followed.

This presentation aims to give an overview on the contents of the handbook and on how it could be used , as well as opening up discussions on suggestions for additional topics and improvements. Furthermore, it provides an overview of ongoing initiatives and technologies within the space sector and at EPFL, aiding future sustainable design practices that will gradually be integrated to the handbook’s updates.

Speaker: Marnix Verkammen (EPFL Space Center)

Tuesday Afternoon: Dark and Quiet Skies (Implications of space activties on astronomy)

16 Three years of the IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Skies: accomplishments and looking ahead

The deployment and operation of large constellations of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites is creating great challenges for the science of astronomy and is even producing effects on the appearance of the night sky. A large number of satellites reflecting sunlight can appear as “moving stars” in the night sky or as very bright “trails” in optical astronomy observations. Radio astronomy is also affected by the very strong radio signals beamed towards Earth (when compared to celestial radio sources), but also by the unintended radio noise that is produced by satellites as a by-product of their electrical operation. The astronomical community has reacted to this situation with two approaches, first to pursue regulation or guidelines in UN bodies such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) or the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), and second establishing a Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (IAU CPS) as a collaboration between the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) and the US National Optical Infrared Laboratory (NOIRLab). While obtaining international regulation or guidelines may be a long process, good progress has been made in that respect both at the ITU-R and COPUOS. On the other hand, the IAU CPS seeks to develop a much more agile interaction, in a collaborative way between astronomers, industry and many other affected groups. It seeks to raise awareness and implement mitigation measures in the short term.
This presentation will make an introduction to the large constellations’ impact on astronomy and then it will focus on the work of the astronomical community at the ITU, UN COPUOS and the IAU CPS. We will discuss developments on Intentional and Unintentional radiation from large constellations at the ITU-R, including the ongoing work on the agenda item for the WRC-27. Following on the ongoing work at UN COPUOS with the recently established agenda item on D&QS at the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Group of Friends for D&QS. Finally we will talk about the IAU CPS, its membership, the activities of each one of the four hubs (SatHub, Industry and Technology, Policy and Community Engagement) and other recent developments. Latest activities include satellite observations, work on software tools (for avoidance and masking), and other mitigation measures implemented and in planning for optical and radio observatories.

Speaker: Mr Federico Di Vruno (SKAO)

17 The Importance of Dark and Quiet Skies in Swiss Astronomy

Switzerland has a significant stake in preserving dark and quiet skies due to its active role in global astronomical research and its industrial contributions to space technology. Swiss astronomers actively contribute to multiple large-scale observatories and research initiatives, including SKAO, CTAO, MeerKAT, MWA,HIRAX, and ngEHT, which are negatively impacted by the RFI emitted from satellites​. Additionally, Swiss astronomers utilize optical telescopes, such as the European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), Very Large Telescope (VLT), NGTS, and the Swiss Euler Telescope, which are increasingly affected by visible light reflections and satellite trails from low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. These visible trails can interfere with long-exposure observations, posing challenges to data accuracy in optical and infrared astronomy.

Swiss industry’s involvement in large satellite constellations also raises complex challenges, as increased satellite traffic not only threatens the pristine skies vital to both radio and optical astronomical observations, but the overcrowding of constellations could impact the satellite industry itself. Recognizing this dual commitment to industry and science, EPFL has been organizing dialogues among radio astronomers, space sustainability advocates, and industry leaders to balance these interests and convey Swiss perspectives at international regulatory forums, such as the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).This talk will highlight Switzerland's position within these dialogues, focusing on the regulatory, scientific, and collaborative imperatives driving the push for preserving dark and quiet skies.

Speaker: Ms Carolyn Crichton (EPFL)

18 The Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies - advocating for spectral resources for radio astronomy

The demand for spectral resources, both on the ground but in particular also in space, has dramatically increased in the last decades due to new technologies and easier access to space. While radio quiet zones were an effective measure for protecting observatories against unwanted interference in the past, this is no longer sufficient in the era of satellite megaconstellations. The Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies (CRAF) is an expert commission of the European Science Foundation (ESF) that is actively involved in studying the impact of new technologies on radio astronomical observations by e.g. conducting studies using its own software tool "PyCRAF", and participates in policy and decision making processes on behalf of the observatories and the astronomical community. In this contribution, we will present an overview on the work of CRAF, with a focus on satellite constellations and preparations for the radio astronomy agenda items at the next World Radiocommunication Conference 2027.

Speaker: Prof. Susanne Wampfler (Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern)

19 Space debris detection and characterization from the ESO VST archive

As space activity grows exponentially, the orbital environment is becoming increasingly congested with active satellites, inactive spacecraft, and debris of varied sizes and shapes. Ensuring the sustainability of future space missions amid this swarm of objects demands precise knowledge of each object’s position, shape, and rotational state.

Despite the significant efforts by space surveillance networks to monitor and track a growing number of objects, the available data often consists only of positional information, leaving critical gaps in understanding the physical and rotational characteristics of defunct satellites and space debris. These parameters, however, are essential for effective space debris removal and accurate assessment of collision risks.

To bridge this knowledge gap, we are leveraging data from the VST/OmegaCam archive, a unique dataset of over 400'000 high-precision observations spanning 12 years. While VST was designed for deep-sky surveys, space debris cross its field of view, leaving detectable traces in the images. The instrument's exceptional sensitivity allows us to detect objects as small as 5 cm in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and 30 cm in geostationary orbit (GEO). Processing this extensive archive requires advanced image analysis, for which we have developed a novel streak-detection method that combines a convolutional neural network with a Hough transform layer. This talk will present our training dataset, algorithm design, and streak-detection workflow.

Following streak detection, we apply a photometric reduction pipeline to extract light curves, revealing insights into each object's attitude and shape. Where possible, these detections are also correlated with existing catalogs. A second presentation will delve into this photometric reduction and catalog correlation process.

Speaker: Ms Elisabeth Rachith (EPFL)

20 Under a False Moon: Spaceflight's impact on the celestial sphere

For billions of years, the celestial sphere has acted as a universal clock and reliable map for life on Earth. As a result, many terrestrial species have evolved to regulate their biological functions and behaviors by the regular cycles of sunlight and moonlight (i.e., photocycles) and navigate by recognizable patterns in the night sky. These celestial patterns and cycles are so fundamentally intertwined with life that many species have come to depend on them at a molecular level, with genes known to regulate biological functions and behaviors according to the solar day and lunar month.

Near-term spaceflight activities have the potential to significantly disrupt these natural patterns and photocycles, with unknown consequences for Earth's biosphere. This is not a hypothetical or far-off problem, as rapidly decreasing launch costs and accelerating technological innovation are opening up outer space to an increasingly diverse array of human activity. Notably, several companies are actively pursuing plans to display advertising, entertainment, and art from low Earth orbit, while government-sponsored initiatives such as space-based solar power seek to place structures of unprecedented size and brightness in orbit.

This talk will discuss the links between human activity in space and Earth’s biosphere, primarily via spaceflight’s impact on the patterns and photocycles that characterize the celestial sphere. It will be argued that environmental impact studies of spaceflight must be expanded to assess spaceflight’s impact on Earth’s biosphere not only during launch and reentry but also while in space.

Speaker: Dr Miles Timpe

16:15 Break

Tuesday Afternoon: Workshop/Roundtable

17:30 Break

Tuesday Afternoon: Technologies for space sustainability

21 Accelerating Space and Earth Sustainability through CERN Innovation

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has developed substantial expertise and innovative technologies and facilities across three key technical domains: accelerators, detectors, and computing. To facilitate the transfer and use of the produced innovation to the benefit of society, CERN’s Knowledge Transfer group (KT) fosters collaborations to develop applications in sectors with high potential societal impact, like Aerospace and Environment. This contribution will present what CERN innovation can do both to help developing space sustainability and to use space technologies to tackle Earth’s global climate challenges, focusing the analysis on four different levels.

The first level is the satellite platform. As the low-cost satellites industry rapidly expands, more CubeSats are launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), increasing the risk related to space debris when the satellites reach their end-of-life. One of the main causes of satellite malfunction is space radiation, which can damage electronics components without adequate preventive or protective measures. Leveraging its expertise in radiation effects on materials and electronics, CERN can provide solutions to enhance the lifespan and reliability of satellites, thereby reducing the need for frequent replacements (savings on equipment and launch cost) and mitigating the risk of unexpected failures generating debris (environmental hazards). Radiation monitoring devices for on-board predictive maintenance have been developed at CERN and several irradiation facilities are available to reproduce different space radiation environments including galactic cosmic rays and perform Radiation Hardness Assurance testing on components and systems.

The second level is the satellite payload. There is a clear trend, especially in the field of Earth Observation, in developing smaller missions making extensive use of COTS components to maximize performances and reduce cost, sometimes even replacing complex satellites with constellations of CubeSats. CERN has developed strong expertise in the field of relative low-cost radiation-tolerant systems development, based on components batch screening and selection for high-performance, risk-tolerant missions. More compact payloads and enhanced onboard processing capabilities require advanced thermal management, which is also supported by the development of microchannel cooling and carbon plates with embedded heat-pipes offering a competitive alternative to bulky radiators and passive thermal management materials. New detector technologies can also pave the way to innovative remote sensing applications for water quality assessment and biodiversity monitoring.

The third level is the data processing, onboard or within the ground segment. CERN has extensive and in-depth expertise in large datasets handling and processing for accurate prediction and decision-making, applicable for instance to weather forecast, climate science, debris monitoring, or analysis of environmental phenomena on a global scale. The use of advanced AI technologies for onboard image processing, like Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) deployment "at the edge", is also investigated in the frame of EU projects for use cases like pollution tracking in the oceans.

Finally, the fourth level involves the study of cosmic rays and their impact on space and Earth’s weather. Several CERN recognized and supported experiments focus on multi-messenger astrophysics. The most relevant example is AMS-02 (the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer), collecting data on the ISS since 2011 and sending them to CERN’s hosted Payload Operations and Control Centre. Another scientific experiment, CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets), is investigating the potential link between galactic cosmic rays and cloud formation using the beam from CERN’s Proton Synchrotron.

Speakers: Mr Enrico Chesta (CERN), Thomas Rimbot (CERN)

22 Expert Centre for Space Safety Providing Services in Support of a Sustainable use of Outer Space

The ESA/AIUB Expert Centre for Space Safety offers a range of services to its users and stakeholders in Space Situational Awareness/ Space Traffic Management domain. It has been developed within ESA Space Safety Programme (S2P) and is hosted and operated by the Astronomical Institute, University of Bern. The Expert Centre provides subject matter expertise and operational services to coordinate SST data acquisition by a multitude of diverse sensors. It supports a variety of applications including tasked tracking, survey, and characterization observations by means of passive optical, satellite laser ranging (SLR), and radar techniques. A core service consists in the validation and qualification of sensors for the mentioned applications. The service includes technical support to sensor operators by experts to achieve compliance with data calibration and quality, as well as data formatting requirements. All formats and interfaces used by the Expert Centre are based on international standards and the data quality requirements are derived by the user community. In terms of object characterization, the Expert Centre focuses in particular on establishing and maintaining a catalogue of attitude information by fusing observations from different techniques, such as light curves, SLR and radar measurements.

Speaker: Prof. Thomas Schildknecht (University of Bern AIUB)

23 “Filling the toolbox while defining the job” Product management at ClearSpace

At ClearSpace we implement our corporate strategy by means of offering a curated suite of services tailored to the emerging In-Orbit Servicing (IOS) market. To enable those services, we develop cutting-edge capabilities besides the more traditional space system building blocks required and available. This paper will highlight the services we’ve identified, along with the key enabling capabilities behind them. We’ve found that many capabilities can be applied across multiple services - for example, the core building blocks enabling inspection and debris removal missions.
Capabilities are defined as a set of technologies. We will delve into how key technologies are mapped to multiple capabilities. Technologies enable capabilities, which are used to deliver services. Capabilities required are divided into product groups, including Guidance Navigation & Control (GNC), Robotics, Mission Design, Operations and System Engineering. Within these areas, ClearSpace identifies the critical gaps and fills them by preparing and executing a technology roadmap. The central question driving our approach is : ‘will our decision and selections help ClearSpace to advance, launch and be successful?’
There are uncertainties on the knowledge which services are sought after, by whom and their respective funding constraints. A product management process is in place that allows flexibility and robustness to changing market parameters. Our make-or-buy decision-making process is highly rigorous, which allows us to focus on a select set of core technologies which are key, and implement those elements in exceptional quality, ensuring safe execution of our mission goals. Key technologies are in some cases yielded from ClearSpace’s ongoing demonstration and technology readiness projects.
ClearSpace will voice the need for strong partnerships with research institutions to accelerate the maturation of early-stage technologies at low Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). ClearSpace considers opportunities at technology maturation, such as hosted payloads on other missions as well as uploading flight software to spaceborne platforms with representative hardware infrastructure.
ClearSpace is leading the charge by bringing services to orbit. Founded in Switzerland in 2018, we are at the forefront of developing innovative technologies enabling a circular space economy. We make space operations safer, more reliable and sustainable.

Speaker: Kees van der Pols (ClearSpace SA)

24 Global Navigation Satellite Systems and Constellations of Earth Observation Satellites: Sustainable Satellites for Science and Society

Terrestrial reference frames (TRFs) are at the heart of metrology and all monitoring processes related to Earth Observation. A high-quality TRF is the indispensable fundamental basis to allow for a long-term consistent monitoring of changes in the Earth system. The importance of highly accurate, stable and sustainable reference frames has been recognized by the A/RES/69/266 United Nations Resolution. The required TRF accuracy of 1 mm and stability of 0.1 mm/yr is currently driving the planned ESA mission Genesis to contribute achieving these goals.

The realization of accurate and long-term stable TRFs would not be possible without the data from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as the U.S. American Global Positioning System (GPS) or the European Galileo System. Since 1992 the International GNSS Service (IGS) is producing and making available uninterrupted time series of its products, in particular GNSS orbits, Earth orientation parameters, and station coordinates and velocities, and is today the world’s largest GNSS organization, representing over 45 countries/regions and over 200 contributing organizations. The presentation will highlight the instrumental role the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB) has played for the IGS, e.g. with the founding chairmanship, by operating the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE), one of the global analysis centers of the IGS, for more than thirty years, and with the current chairmanship of the IGS and directorship of further services of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG).

Besides countless applications enabled by the IGS, the IGS products are essential also for any Earth Observation satellite missions requiring precise orbital information. The presentation will exemplarily highlight satellite gravimetry missions such as the on-going U.S.-German GRACE Follow-On (FO) mission, NASA’s planned GRACE-C continuation mission, as well as ESA’s Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM) that will form together with the GRACE-C mission the Mass-change and Geosciences International Constellation (MAGIC) as an unique observing systems to measure the tiny variations of the Earth’s gravity field. Time-variable gravity derived by satellite gravimetry provides integrative measures of Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS) variations on a regional to global scale. Given the large interest of the scientific community to understand the processes of changes in TWS, comprising all the water storage on the Earth’s continental areas in frozen and liquid state, including ice caps, glaciers, snow cover, soil moisture, groundwater and the storage in surface water bodies and the interaction with ocean mass and sea level, TWS was adopted as a new Essential Climate Variable (ECV) just recently in the implementation plan 2022 of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS).

The presentation will highlight the instrumental role of the AIUB for European and international initiatives such as the Combination Service of Time-variable Gravity Fields (COST-G) of the IAG or the Global Gravity-based Groundwater Product (G3P). The initiatives have contributed to underline the need to urge national and international space agencies and decision makers to implement and maintain long-term sustained observing systems of the Earth’s time-variable gravity field realized by dedicated gravity satellite constellations with improved measurement technology to enable new science and applications of enormous societal benefit and to evolve them into sustainable operational services in the longer term, as it was recently stated in the resolution no. 2 adopted by the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) in 2023.

Speaker: Prof. Adrian Jäggi (University of Bern)

25 Towards Autonomous Pose Estimation for Unseen Satellites

Future space activities such as in-orbit construction, debris removal and far side lunar exploration require greatly improved autonomy. This increased autonomy is largely expected to be driven by a foundation of neural networks within space systems. Proximal pose estimation of non-cooperative targets is a key enabling technology, but with many challenges to address. In particular, (1) estimating the pose of previously unseen objects; (2) the compression of neural networks for deployment on limited space hardware; (3) the lack of available data for training these algorithms; and (4) ensuring the algorithms' robustness in the challenging space environment. This paper introduces the projects, both completed and ongoing, at EPFL CVLab to address these challenges. We demonstrate the pose estimation of a rocket body while training on images of household objects as well as compressing networks by a factor of 8 while maintaining state-of-the-art performance.

Speaker: Dr Andrew Price (EPFL)

19:00 Social Activity

20:00 Dinner

Wednesday 8 January

Wednesday Morning: Law and policy, Ethics, and Economics of space sustainability

26 Ensuring the sustainability of space from a legal perspective

In this presentation, I will first outline how space sustainability is addressed and what issues are covered by international and national space law regimes to date. I will then examine the current debate on the regulation of space sustainability, the emerging national and supranational space laws and their approach to space sustainability. Finally, I will conclude the presentation by discussing the future of space sustainability regulation.

Speaker: Dr Merve Erdem Burger

27 The Panel on Exploration of the Committee on Space Research

The Panel on Exploration of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) is tasked to address in a cross-disciplinary approach the scientific, technological, societal, economic, and legal aspects of space exploration, with a special focus on sustainability, environmental stewardship and international collaboration. In this presentation, we will summarize the findings and emerging new topics discussed in the sessions of the Panel on Exploration at the COSPAR 2024 assembly in Busan, South Korea (July 14-20).

Speaker: André Galli (University of Bern)

28 Setting Off Sustainably. Planetary Sustainability and Space 4.0

These days, we go into “Space 4.0”, as the European Space Agency (ESA) likes to call it, marked by public-private partnerships. The space industry has a growth projection of 11% every year, and when we think of space, we think of unimaginable sizes and infinite expanses. Yet our most important orbits are already quite filled, even with junk, and space is limited. What if our space environment became overcrowded and unusable? How to address the space debris issue is only one of several questions surrounding the current developments. What is the future of space tourism? When will space mining become real? Can it actually be sustainable? Should we make money out of our common heritage? All these are aspects of the question of how we can set off into space sustainably. After all, our time on Earth is limited, and we need to launch. In economic terms, we must ask ourselves whether the growth paradigm can be extended indefinitely when adding outer space and a possible multi-planetary society into the equation, or whether the Club of Rome’s call for an equilibrium still needs to be heeded. In any case, there is a need to balance our spacefaring endeavours with the pressing anthropogenic challenges our planet is currently facing. We also need to consider the impact of the threatening loss of our pristine night sky on animal nightlife and earthbound astronomical observations.

Speaker: Dr Andreas Losch

29 Investors' perception of sustainability aspects in space ventures

Space sustainability is a multifaceted problem; thus, it must be addressed systematically and from different angles. While the technological and commercial facets of space sustainability seem to be attracting the spotlight, the key process behind any technological development and commercial advancement remains in the shadows. The process in question is investment. This study aims at shedding light on the perception of sustainability within the space sector from the perspective of investors, focusing on whether environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations are integrated into investment decisions (if yes, then how; if no, then why).
A mixed-methods approach is employed, with the primary data source being qualitative insights from a series of semi-structured interviews with investors, venture capitalists, and startup founders, and complemented by quantitative data from investment trends in the space industry. Against a backdrop of very scarce existing research, the study at hand provides insights into the evolving expectations around sustainable practices in space ventures, carefully noting the data limitations, universal and sector-specific challenges. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the intersection between sustainability and financial performance in such a capital-intensive sector as space, and offer actionable suggestions for sustainability integration in space investments.

Speaker: Mr Sebastian Bélanger Villanueva (EPFL)

30 Space traffic management

Space traffic is currently managed by various public and private entities across the globe. They use various standards and languages and can typically provide their services only to selected space operators from like-minded countries. Additionally, they track space debris and are seeking to monetize the significant investments made in developing their capacities.
The United Nations serve as the depository of international space treaties and agreements, but they currently lack a mandate for the supervision of space activities. Similarly, the International Telecommunications Union is responsible for allocating frequencies and orbital slots, but it only addresses conflicts upon specific requests from its Member States, rather than maintaining ongoing supervision and coordination. This fragmented approach to space traffic management increases the risks of conjunctions, leading to the potential creation of new space debris. It also raises operational costs for satellite operators, who must perform more frequent collision avoidance maneuvers and account for the lack of coordination with some other space operators.
This situation is primarily due to the fact that none of the global space powers appear willing to entrust the monitoring of space traffic to an entity based in another space power. Similarly, States currently disagree on assigning this responsibility to an international organization.
In addition, the evolution of space activities presents new challenges for space traffic management. The proliferation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations significantly increases the risk of collisions, bringing all space stakeholders closer to the Kessler Syndrome. These constellations also negatively impact scientists by disrupting the dark and quiet sky needed for observing Outer Space.
However, the 1967 Outer Space Treaty states the principles of cooperation and mutual assistance, as well as the duty to undertake appropriate international consultation before proceeding with any activity or experiment that would cause potentially harmful interference with activities of other States parties. On that basis, a lack of cooperation and consultation could well be considered as a fault in the meaning of the Convention on international liability for damages caused by space objects of 1972, implying therefore the responsibility of the launching States for damages in Outer Space.
A transversal and interdisciplinary approach is essential for resolving space traffic issues by addressing legal and diplomatic constraints and providing tools to those responsible for space maneuvers through a bottom-up approach. To create a common system, we must focus on what can and should be shared among all space actors, regardless of their activities, nature, or country of origin. This begins with establishing an operational point of contact for all space objects, enabling efficient communication with the person responsible for each object's guidance. While this doesn't guarantee a response, it ensures that the message reaches the right person within a defined time frame.
These points of contact must be rigorously monitored to ensure reliability, requiring resources to maintain high-quality services, including a closely managed inventory of space objects and a well-maintained directory of space actors. Trust cannot be achieved if this task is handled by a global space power; neutrality and transparency are crucial. Spacetalk can therefore play a pivotal role in space traffic management by leveraging its expertise, neutrality, and organizational skills.

Speaker: Dr Benjamin Guyot (spacetalk)

10:15 Break

Wednesday Morning: Workshop/Roundtable: Exploring Opportunities and Challenges for Swiss Good Offices in Space Traffic Management

12:15 Lunch