More than 8,000 tons of space debris endanger all space activities. Satellite operators pay more than €14 million a year for evasive maneuvers and 1 billion USD in insurance premiums. Orbit Recycling is changing this. Space debris is transported from the orbit to the Moon and there recycled. E.g. Ariane 5 upper stages are located mainly in GTO & just a small delta-v (1,6km/s) is left to reach the Moon. Since the debris is picked up in orbit, small propulsion units are sufficient for the remaining transport to the moon, which are to launch cost-effectively with European Vega rockets. More than 150 tons of aluminum can be regained from Ariane 5 upper stages alone. Large parts of lunar shelter (for human or robotic missions) can be built with it, e.g. walls, power lines or heat storage systems. This saves more than €50 billions of European tax money in transportation costs compared to the planned landers for SLS or Ariane 6 launchers. Our proposal is the evaluation of currently developed ESA technology for its usage potential for space debris recycling. It covers mainly technology developed for ADR/IOS missions as well as already proven metal recycling processes adopted for lunar usage from Orbit Recycling and its research partners. It complements ESA’s Moon (village) activities (of robotic/human missions) as well as ESA Technology Strategy 2020 to get rid of space debris and should be executed in parallel to these missions with a minimum of interfering from Orbit Recycling to avoid any potential delays. As the concept spans several ESA groups (space safety & security, science & exploration, enabling & support), such an evaluation couldn`t be initiated by one group alone but does need a decision from ESA in general. The proposed evaluation study will help ESA with the strategic decision to consider recycling material from space debris for lunar constructions to not only make space activities in our crowded orbits safer but Moon missions much cheaper in the future.
