Solutions to Space Debris | Lecture by Philippe Blondel Friday 1st December 2023, Queen Square, Bath

Think you’ve got a litter problem? Near-Earth space is littered with hundreds of millions of man-made objects rushing at very high speeds and risking collisions with each other. So, what risk does this astro-litter pose to the new constellations of satellites that will be occupying the skies, and how do we detect such tiny objects fast enough? This talk explores the current situation, from space collisions to intentional creation of space debris, the approaching Kessler Syndrome and the geopolitical context, in Earth and beyond.

The final talk on the Bath Preservation Trust / Herschel Museum of Astronomy 2023 theme “Conserving the Planet”.

Philippe Blondel is a remote sensing expert. Born and educated in France, his PhD was about the radar imaging of the planet Venus. He co-authored the White Paper on “In-Space Utilisation of Asteroids” (2017) and experimented and published on imaging space debris and small targets (2018, 2019). His Knowledge Transfer activities include working with industry and participating to the UK Parliament Office of Science and Technology on “Defence of space-based assets”.