--- eventsindex_id: EI-07099 slug: zero-debris-week title: Zero Debris Week title_alt: - Zero Debris Future Symposium - ZDW canonical_url: https://eventsindex.org/events/zero-debris-week.html next_edition_dates: 2026-09-08 to 2026-09-11 next_edition_year: 2026 date_start: '2026-09-08' date_end: '2026-09-11' venue: CREA Building, Spanish Space Agency headquarters city: Seville country: Spain organiser: Agencia Espacial Española with the European Space Agency organiser_url: https://indico.esa.int/event/651/ b2b: true vector: sector: - space-tech audience: - government - industry - researcher format: - conference purpose: - content - education - networking geography_scope: - Europe season: autumn meta_description: 'Zero Debris Week 2026, 8-11 September in Seville: the Zero Debris Future Symposium plus technical sessions, hosted by the Spanish Space Agency with ESA.' editorial_take: The one European event where debris policy and debris engineering sit in the same building, and the only place the Zero Debris Charter turns into actual commitments. generated_by: cowork-vertical-build last_verified: '2026-08-03' schema_version: v8.0 language: en --- # Zero Debris Week > *Four days in Seville that split the orbital debris problem in two: a senior symposium on the policy, legal and commercial side, then three days of technical sessions for the engineers who have to build the answer.* --- ## Quick Facts | DATES | VENUE | HOSTS | STRUCTURE | |---|---|---|---| | 8–11 September 2026 | CREA Building, Spanish Space Agency, Seville | Agencia Espacial Española with the European Space Agency | 3rd edition, symposium on 8–9 September, technical sessions 9–11 September | ## Definition Zero Debris Week is the annual working meeting of the Zero Debris community, the group of agencies, operators, manufacturers and researchers that signed or support the Zero Debris Charter. The 2026 edition runs from 8 to 11 September at the CREA Building in Seville, the headquarters of the Spanish Space Agency, which hosts the week with support from the European Space Agency. It is the third edition and the first held in Spain. The week is deliberately split into two events with separate registrations: the Zero Debris Future Symposium on 8 and 9 September, aimed at senior decision makers and covering the regulatory, legal, policy and commercial questions, and the Zero Debris Technical Sessions from 9 to 11 September for engineers, operators and researchers working on mitigation and removal. ## Why the week exists in this shape The Zero Debris Charter set a target of ending the generation of new debris in valuable orbits by 2030, and a target of that kind fails in two distinct ways. It fails politically, if licensing regimes and liability rules do not converge across jurisdictions, and it fails technically, if nobody qualifies the hardware for controlled reentry, collision avoidance and active removal. Most conferences pick one of those two conversations. Zero Debris Week runs both in the same building, in the same week, with an overlap day on 9 September so that the policy audience and the engineering audience actually meet. ## What happens in each half The Future Symposium is a two-day, senior-level format. Its output is intended to be positions rather than papers: working group progress, white paper drafting, international outreach, and the question of how the community structures itself beyond a voluntary charter. The technical sessions are the working half. They cover gap analysis against the charter targets, technology mapping and prioritisation, the shared technology database, and the state of debris removal, on-orbit servicing, passivation and disposal hardware. Business-to-business networking runs alongside for suppliers of debris mitigation technology. ## Who attends - Space agency staff working on space safety and clean space programmes - Satellite operators, particularly constellation operators facing disposal obligations - Launch providers and upper stage manufacturers - Debris removal and on-orbit servicing companies - National regulators and licensing authorities - Space lawyers, insurers and policy researchers - Academic groups working on space surveillance and orbital dynamics ## FAQ · Identity and audience ### Is Zero Debris Week open to any company? It is open to organisations working on or affected by orbital debris, but it is a working meeting rather than a trade show. Registration is reviewed by the organisers and applicants are notified of the outcome, so it is not a walk-in event. ### Do I need to attend both halves? No, and many participants do not. The Future Symposium and the Technical Sessions require separate registrations and address different roles. Policy and legal staff typically take the first two days, engineers the last three, and the 9th is the day both are present. ### Is this an ESA event or a Spanish event? Both. The Spanish Space Agency hosts the 2026 edition at its own Seville headquarters, with the European Space Agency's Clean Space and Space Safety teams behind the programme content. ## The hosts: two agencies with different roles The Agencia Espacial Española was created in 2023 and placed its headquarters in Seville, which is now the administrative centre of the Spanish space sector. Hosting Zero Debris Week is part of how a young agency establishes itself in the European conversation. The European Space Agency brings the content: the Zero Debris Charter, the Clean Space programme and the space safety technical base that the sessions are built on. --- ## Editorial take *The one European event where debris policy and debris engineering sit in the same building, and the only place the Zero Debris Charter turns into actual commitments.* ## How to register and what it costs Registration ran through ESA's Indico platform from 2 April to 17 July 2026, with separate forms for the Future Symposium and the Technical Sessions, and applicants notified of the outcome after review. Registration closed at the verification date for this fiche, so participation in the 2026 edition is now settled. A participation fee was not published on the registration page. Anyone planning to take part in a future edition should watch the ESA Indico page from early spring, since the window opens roughly five months ahead and closes about two months before the event. ## FAQ · Access and practicalities ### When and where does the 2026 edition take place? 8 to 11 September 2026 at the CREA Building, headquarters of the Spanish Space Agency, Calle José Galán Merino 6, 41015 Seville, Spain. ### Can I still register? No. Registration for the 2026 edition closed on 17 July 2026 and the organisers confirmed the outcome of applications in the weeks that followed. ### How do I get to the venue? Seville airport is around 15 minutes from the city by road, with direct connections to the main European hubs. The CREA Building sits in the northern part of Seville, away from the historic centre, so allow travel time from a city-centre hotel. ### Is there an online option? The programme is built around in-person working sessions and drafting groups. No general online participation track was published for the 2026 edition. ## Resources | Resource | URL | |---|---| | Official event page | https://indico.esa.int/event/651/ | | Zero Debris Charter | https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Clean_Space/World-first_Zero_Debris_Charter_goes_live | | Spanish Space Agency | https://aee.gob.es/ | --- **Last verified:** 2026-08-03 **Next review:** 2026-09-15 **Notes:** Registration closed on 17 July 2026; no participation fee was published. Attendance figures are not disclosed by the organisers and none are estimated here. The 2026 edition is the third and the first hosted in Spain. **Variables:** 41/58 **Concept definition:** applicable