E. Deorbit: The Space Debris Removal Mission—Luisa Innocenti—European Space Agency

Finding Genius Podcast

Richard Jacobs

Medicine, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2019

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Just like human activity has resulted in pollution on Earth, it's resulted in the pollution of the space around Earth, leaving large volumes of space debris in orbit—debris ranging in size from a few millimeters to dead satellites weighing thousands of pounds. While even the smallest sizes of debris pose the threat of colliding with active satellites and causing damage—indeed, a piece of debris measuring just 0.7 mm recently caused a European spacecraft to lose power—the larger items of debris pose the additional threat of what's called the Kessler effect, which occurs when the collision of objects in space results in a chain reaction that can eventually render an orbit nonoperational.

Head of the European Space Agency (ESA) Clean Space Office, Luisa Innocenti, joins the podcast to discuss all the details of the problem with space pollution, catastrophic collisions, preventative measures that are currently being taken in order to avoid collisions, and two possible ways to clean up the orbits we so heavily rely upon one that involves a net, and one that involves the use of a robotic arm moving in synchronicity with space debris.

Press play for the full conversation on these important topics and visit https://www.esa.int/ESA for more information on the ESA's current projects.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Future Tech Podcast with Richard Jiggots.
0:09.0	Future Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence,
0:11.8	Stem Cells, 3D printing, gene editing,
0:14.6	Bitcoin, blockchain, the microbiome, quantum computing, virtual reality, and exploring space
0:21.0	are much closer than you might think.
0:23.0	In fact, many early versions of these technologies are in play right now,
0:27.0	and the companies that are using these technologies
0:30.0	to the focus of this podcast.
0:32.0	My goal for you, the listener, is to learn from these
0:34.4	podcasts. You may very well learn something that may change the course of your life
0:38.2	for the better. Steer you towards a new career or give you insight into
0:42.4	addressing a thorny medical problem.
0:44.4	Remember, this podcast and this content is informational and nature only. No medical,
0:49.2	tax, legal, financial, or psychological advice is being given.
0:53.0	If you've enjoyed the podcast, please listen,
0:55.4	subscribe, like, and tell your friends about it.
0:58.2	Thank you. Hello, this is Richard Jacobs with the Future Check, our guests. I have Lisa
1:09.9	Inocenty, head of the Queen Space Office at ESA, the European and Space Agency.
1:16.1	And they have a team called the E. D. Orbit team.
1:19.7	Parents come on these and working on ways to catch and stabilize tumbling satellites and clean up the space
1:26.0	around Earth.
1:27.0	So Louisa, how you doing today?
	...

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