European Space Agency Can Share Expertise in Tackling Space Debris Issue - Official

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2018) The European Space Agency (ESA) can provide its expertise in dealing with space debris, a legal officer at the ESA, Alexander Soucek, told Sputnik.

"We do have a lot of expertise, and certainly the effort to help mitigating debris, and in the future also remediating debris, is something that is close to the heart of ESA," Soucek said.

He noted that various issues stood in the way of resolving the issue, both technical and financial.

"There are a lot of challenges ... One is, of course, the technical level ... There is also the finance level - a debris removal mission costs a lot of money.

You have to develop it, you have to execute it, and you have to launch it ... Also developing tools that can grab satellites that has also multiple use capacity," the officer explained.

On Tuesday, Peter Stubbe, who is responsible for the European Space Agency affairs at the German Aerospace Center, called for a new initiative to tackle the space debris issue.

Space debris, also called space junk, is threatening satellites, the International Space Station (ISS), as well as various missions beyond Earth's vicinity. Because of the high speeds at which objects orbit Earth, even a small piece of space debris can damage a spacecraft.