by Christophe Bonnal, Senior expert, launchers Directorate at CNES, chairman of the Commission debris of the IAA, correspondent of the EFA
The massive development of space applications that we are witnessing is confronted by a number of constraints, among which the pollution of space appears to be one of the most significant. The unbridled use of space since 1957 has spawned a population of significant orbital debris on the most widely used orbits. We will describe the current situation, the means used to characterize this threat, and then the dreaded events, uncontrolled fallout on earth and collisions in orbit. The proposed, regulatory and technical solutions will be addressed, ranging from non-proliferation rules to future solutions for space cleaning.