The Australian Space Agency (ASA) and Agencia Espacial Española (AEE, Spanish Space Agency) have become Associate Members of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC).
The IADC, which is over 30 years old, is a group of 13 Member Space Agencies who perform coordinated research on space debris topics. The research performed by the Committee focuses on a range of topics from developing new approaches to shield spacecraft from natural and human-related debris impacts to forecasting the evolution of space debris environment. The output from this research has guided the development of the Committee’s most well-known product, the IADC Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines, which has informed the global regulatory approach on how to mitigate the human impact on the space environment.
The ASA and AEE join the New Zealand Space Agency as Associate Members of the Committee. The establishment of the Associate Member status in 2024 was intended to encourage interaction with a broader range of Space Agencies, fostering collaboration and raising awareness of the Committee’s research activities and guidelines.
“The growth of the Committee is testament to its importance in the international community, both in understanding the evolution of the space debris environment and developing approaches that can be adopted by operators and regulators to mitigate their impact,” said Andrew Ratcliffe,Chief Engineer at the UK Space Agency and the current Chair of the IADC. “International collaboration and technically informed decision-making are critical to achieving a safe and sustainable space environment.”
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UK Space Agency
Image: European Space Agency