Unless new rules are agreed in a new global treaty, space risks being turned into a “man-made rubbish dump”, the chairman of the UK Space Agency has said.
Lord David Willetts also warned that launching satellites would become “trickier and trickier” if immediate steps were not taken to control space debris.
He praised British industry for its innovation in creating new spacecraft that will help clear up the rubbish and repair failing satellites.
But without prompt action the world risks “trashing” space, with already 7,000 satellites in orbit above Earth, he said.
“We think of space as somehow pure or pristine or clear and yet we're in danger of trashing it and making another man-made rubbish dump,” he told the Global Network On Sustainability In Space (GNOSIS). “We're very concerned as well about access to space as space debris will make launching missions in the future trickier and trickier.”
There are mounting worries that increasing space debris could lead to a catastrophe called the Kessler Effect, where a chain reaction of collisions would make it impossible to navigate any spacecraft and knock out global satellite systems.
Lord Willetts outlined a concern highlighted by the UK’s leading astronaut, Tim Peake, who spent six months on the International Space Station. “Tim said in some ways the scariest thing you did was not the launch, not the return, but the times when in the space station they were asked to go into their Soyuz [escape] modules in case space debris, damaged the space station itself.”
The former science and universities minister was speaking on Thursday at the second GNOSIS conference, that brought academics and industry together to discuss cosmic debris and protecting spacecraft.
He lamented the lost opportunity to introduce new rules for space at the 50th anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty due to poor relations between the US and Russia. The 1967 agreement forms the basis of international space law and currently 112 countries are parties to the treaty,
Lord Willetts said it could have been a moment to “upgrade and modernise the overall international legal framework within which we operate”, but unfortunately bad international relations ruled it out.
Given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the possibility of an international agreement is now even more difficult.
The UAE, which signed the Outer Space Treaty in 2000, has a burgeoning and responsible space programme with plans to send its Rashid rover to the moon later this month, after the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket had to cancel its launch on Thursday.
Britain’s own industry is growing dramatically with the first aircraft-assisted launch of a satellite from Spaceport Cornwall potentially later this month, and next year the inaugural blast-off of a vertical rocket from the Saxavord space centre in Scotland.
“We see our space launch capability as really helping tackle some of those challenges of space debris removal and in-orbit servicing,” said Lord Willetts.
“There's a sense that the UK is really a constructive contributor to a global problem. We're trying to do it through technologies, through international activity and by making the UK a clear leader in shaping responsible space law.”
He also praised the work of the UK-based Astroscale company that says it is the first with a vision for the safe development of space “for the benefit of future generations” including in-orbit repair.
“I suspect in the future there will be more and more capacity to repair broken or malfunctioning satellites,” said Lord Willetts, 66. “And Astroscale is a really exciting company moving beyond active debris removal into in-orbit servicing as well. That is another area where British companies are keen to attract companies around the world.”
He also proposed that the military’s early ballistic missile warning station at Fylingdales in Yorkshire should have its immense capabilities freely available to all, to track “space situational awareness”.
Fylingdales has a secondary function of detecting orbiting objects making it ideal to track debris. “Sustainability in space is crucial and we try to support that through the UK Space Agency,” Lord Willetts said.
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Where to apply
Applicants should send their completed applications - CV, covering letter, sample(s) of your work, letter of recommendation - to Nick March, Assistant Editor in Chief at The National and UAE programme administrator for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, by 5pm on April 30, 2020.
Please send applications to nmarch@thenational.ae and please mark the subject line as “Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism (UAE programme application)”.
The local advisory board will consider all applications and will interview a short list of candidates in Abu Dhabi in June 2020. Successful candidates will be informed before July 30, 2020.
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The biog
Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah
Date of birth: 15 November, 1951
Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”
Hobbies: Reading and writing poetry
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Tenet
Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh
Rating: 5/5
Book%20Details
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Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
More on Quran memorisation:
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The years Ramadan fell in May
The five pillars of Islam
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The 12 Syrian entities delisted by UK
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Defence
General Intelligence Directorate
Air Force Intelligence Agency
Political Security Directorate
Syrian National Security Bureau
Military Intelligence Directorate
Army Supply Bureau
General Organisation of Radio and TV
Al Watan newspaper
Cham Press TV
Sama TV
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Greatest Royal Rumble results
John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match
Cedric Alexander retained the WWE Cruiserweight title against Kalisto
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt win the Raw Tag Team titles against Cesaro and Sheamus
Jeff Hardy retained the United States title against Jinder Mahal
Bludgeon Brothers retain the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos
Seth Rollins retains the Intercontinental title against The Miz, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
AJ Styles remains WWE World Heavyweight champion after he and Shinsuke Nakamura are both counted out
The Undertaker beats Rusev in a casket match
Brock Lesnar retains the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Braun Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble by eliminating Big Cass last
MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
