Space capacity allocation for the sustainability of space activities

Space, as any other ecosystem, has a finite capacity. The continuous growth of space activities, due to our increasing reliance on services from Space, the privatisation of the space market and the lower cost of deploying smaller and distributed missions in orbit, is from one side improving human-life quality and, however, it is also contributing to overloading this delicate system. International discussion is ongoing at the Inter Agency Debris Coordination Committee and at COPUOS on how to measure the overall capacity of the space environment and assess the impact that individual missions have on it.

This workshop is open to all researchers, space operators and regulators working in the space debris field. The aim is not only to present current advances in research on space capacity modelling and management, but above all to offer a constructive and interdisciplinary framework to discuss and work collaboratively to advance the discussion on space sustainability and space capacity management.

In this view, the following topics will be addressed and discussed during the workshop:

• Modelling the long-term evolution of the space debris environment,
• Defining indices to assess the impact of missions to the space environment,
• Measuring and defining thresholds for the overall space carrying capacity,
• Proposals to manage the space environment on the long-term,
• Policy and economic studies on space debris mitigations and applicability of capacity management strategies.

As outcome of the workshop, a special issue of a journal might be initiated with invited publications. In addition, a report and statement of the outcome to be shared with the outcome of the discussion will be prepared.