Neuraspace and the European Space Agency have signed a multi-million Euro contract spanning two years for the Portuguese company's skills in space traffic management (STM).

The problem of debris and STM has been vexing ESA for years. The agency recently published its 2024 Space Environment Report, which noted how crowded Earth's orbital environment was getting and the increasing need for collision avoidance maneuvers by active spacecraft to dodge space junk. Or, in the notorious case of Aeolus and Starlink, firing the thrusters to avoid part of a mega-constellation.

Aeolus survived its close encounter and was eventually disposed of in the Earth's atmosphere on July 28, 2023, in a guided reentry over Antarctica.

The Register spoke to Neuraspace's CEO, Chiara Manfletti, in February. The company's platform was already using AI - before it became the darling of Venture Capitalists worldwide - to build up a picture of the orbital environment. Various sources, including radar, static databases, and optical data are used, along with other factors, such as solar storms and the size and shape of objects, to come up with collision forecasting.

Neuraspace's service will be deployed within ESA's space debris office (SDO), which will use the platform daily for the assessment of close approaches of ESA satellites for a set of ESA missions operated from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC).

For ESA, it'll mean improved STM. For Neuraspace, it'll mean enhancing its product based on what is learned during the experience. Having ESA as a customer will not harm the company's reputation either.

Klaus Merz, Senior Collision Avoidance analyst, and a team member at ESA's SDO, said, "Working with Neuraspace reflects ESA's strong commitment to foster commercialization."

Merz added: "If not managed properly, resident space objects ultimately threaten the economically vital Earth orbits to become unusable. Using innovative STM solutions like these offered by Neuraspace allows us to reduce risks and contributes to protecting our space assets."

ESA has long been banging the drum for responsible use of orbital space, and has been taking steps to avoid adding to the debris problem - although it, and other space agencies, have created plenty of space junk in decades past despite the bold words of today.

In February, Manfletti posed the question for satellite operators facing a conjunction: "Who moves first? Is it the satellite that is the biggest and most expensive? Is it the satellite that has the most propellant on board?

"These things have to be worked out, and until we do have regulatory frameworks or guidelines in place that are shared by the community, I think companies like ourselves can bring coordination between active satellite operators." ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/09/16/esa_and_neuraspace_space_traffic_contract/