Niels Van der Pas

• Msc. of Science.
• Engineer at Airbus Defence and Space Netherlands

Space debris is a growing problem. Models show that the Kessler syndrome, the exponential growth of debris due to collisions, has become unavoidable unless an active debris removal program is initiated. The debris population in LEO with inclination between 60° and 95° is considered as the most critical zone. In order to stabilize the debris populat...

Near Earth Objects (NEOs) have periodically hit Earth throughout its history, and it is a fact that such impacts will continue to occur. Although the risk of serious collisions is extremely small, depending on the NEO size and impact point, the consequences could be catastrophic. Thanks to increased monitoring efforts, there is a high likelihood of...

At the Bremen Institute of Space Systems of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and within the Department of System Analysis Space Segment (SARA) a group for investigating new and future space concepts has been founded in late 2010 - The Advanced Study Group (ASG). One of the topics investigated in its third instalment has been the Kuiper Belt Exploi...

A mission for the exploration and exploitation of the Kuiper belts and its resources was pro-posed and started with a thorough analysis of the Kuiper belt objects, their location, distribution and constituent materials. A set of possible missions was then generated, based on the information obtained. These included a variety of concepts and a feasi...

Space debris is a growing problem. Models show that the Kessler syndrome, the exponential growth of debris due to collisions, has become unavoidable unless an active debris removal program is initiated. The debris population in LEO with inclination between 60 and 95 degrees is considered as the most critical zone. In order to stabilize the debris p...