It is not safe to let space junk burn up in the atmosphere

Professor Minkwan Kim, of the University of Southampton’s Aeronautics and Astronautics research group, was one of the keynote speakers at the 2026 Space Debris Conference, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in early 2026 and organised by the Saudi Space Agency.

The conference provided a forum for uniting stakeholders, who are eager to tackle space debris challenges. Speakers included representatives from companies like GNV, Nova Space, D-Orbit, Eutelsat and Astroscale; and organisations like the UNOOSA, IADC, JAXA, ISRO, CNSA and ESA; as well as academia.

Minkwan Kim’s talk: ‘Characterising the chemical by-products of ablation when spacecraft burn in the atmosphere upon re-entry’, set out a strong case for why we should not assume that it is safe to de-orbit spacecraft or space junk by nudging them into the atmosphere and letting them burn up.

His talk outlined his work, which seeks to establish what gases are produced, when debris burns up in the atmosphere. Watch on YouTube: Day 2 Live Stream: Space Debris Conference 2026 | Highlights & Sessions (starts at 6 minutes 10 seconds). The talk led to discussions with key experts in the field to explore avenues for potential collaboration.

Professor Minkwan Kim was recently awarded £800,000 of UKSA funding, from the NSIP Programme, to further his work.