In this episode of Think: Sustainability, we discuss space debris, what is it? And why is there more of it? This episode investigates the current and upcoming technology being used to remove space junk. We also speak with Dr Cassandra Steer, an expert in space law and policy, to find out who is held accountable for littering in space.

Presenter/Producer: Marlene Even

Featured:

Dr. Martin Bell, astrophysicist, and lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

Dr. Cassandra Steer, a lecturer at the Australian National University College of Law and a mission specialist at the Australian National University Institute for Space.

Mike Lindsay, Chief Technology Officer, Astroscale.

Music: Epidemic Sound

Sound effects:

‘Starlink mission’, 18th August 2020 (credit: SpaceX) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTMJK7wb0rM

Interview with Peter Meiklejohn, from the documentary ‘Searching for Skylab’ 2019 (credit: ‘Searching for Skylab’, Dwight Steven-Boniecki) www.searchingforskylab.com

‘Flight Controllers Activity During Skylab Reentry On 12.7.1979’, (credit: NASA)

‘Sounds of Saturn: Hear Radio Emissions of the Planet and its Moon Enceladus’, 2017, licence under a Creative Common Licence (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Iowa) https://soundcloud.com/nasa/enceladus-hiss-audio

‘Dinks and Donks: from InSight’s seismometer’, 2019 (credit: NASA) https://www.nasa.gov/connect/sounds/index.html