Space debris mitigation measures applied to European launchers

In November 1986, more than 20 years ago, an H8 Upper stage of Ariane I exploded in orbit nine months after the end of its mission. So as to avoid the generation of debris in low Earth orbit, a dedicated complementary development modified the design, introducing systematic passivation of the stage. Ever since this even space debris mitigation has been I major concern for all launcher activities in Europe. After a short recall of the launchers currently operated by Arianespace as well as those currently developed by ESA with CNES, particularly for the safeguard authority, including the most promising future evolutions, the set of applicable regulations is described. These rules are fundamentally derived from the IADC Guidelines (hence the UNCOPUOS ones), translated into European Code of Conduct and in some more applicable Standards, Such as the one prepared by ESA. The process of preparing ISO standards, mainly through the ECSS Working Group, is also described. Three major families can be identified: minimization of Mission Related Objects, Passivation of stages at the end of mission, and orbital protected zones including the so-called 25-year rule. The paper describes how European launchers do or will fulfill these applicable standards, quantifying the efficiency of the mitigation rules, and describing improvement actions Currently Under study. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.