A satellite's death spiral

Bern, Switzerland (SPX) Nov 27, 2023

Down on the ground, death equals stillness - but not in space. Abandoned satellites are prone to tumble in unpredictable ways and an ESA project with the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern sought to better understand this behaviour. ESA's Clean Space initiative has plans to remove dead satellites from highly trafficked orbits. The preferred method of 'Active Debris Removal' i