Securing negotiations with Leonidas Askianakis requires foresight. Their schedule is divided into 30-minute slots from 5 am to 11 pm, meetings are online only, and each one of them revolves around space.
Despite the long hours, their calendar gets booked up several weeks in advance. When does he sleep?
The 22-year-old student at the Technical University of Munich in Germany shrugged when asked the question during a recent interview with DW, saying he was “on menial duties” and “can’t put the project aside.”
Even at night, he said, the burden of the mission weighs on him, and he often lies awake scrolling through recent reports from Chinese space missions, which have identified more debris and increased risks.
In early November, a Chinese crew had to extend their stay in orbit because their return capsule could be hit by fragments. Askianakis says space junk has become something of a calling, his calling.
growing threat from above
Thousands of tons of debris now surround the Earth – retired satellites, spent rocket stages and countless pieces of debris. The European Space Agency (ESA) estimates that there are more than 1.2 million objects larger than one centimeter (0.39 in) in orbit, including more than 50,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters.
“Between 700 and 800 kilometers [434 miles to 497 miles] “At high altitudes we are seeing massive debris clouds that will persist for centuries and could grow through collisions,” Jan Szyminski, of ESA’s Space Debris Team in Darmstadt, Germany, told DW.
A one-centimeter fragment is enough to destroy a satellite, he said, because “the collision releases the energy of a hand grenade.”
Global monitoring systems track the largest fragments around the clock, but most debris remains invisible. “With our ground-based radar, we can typically detect objects the size of a tennis ball,” Siminski said. “Any little thing we can’t detect means there’s always residual risk.”
The need for a ‘Commercial Cleaning Plan’
This risk has haunted Askianakis since his first semester in aerospace engineering. “How can debris stay in orbit for 200 years and no one do anything?” After a lecture he was surprised.
He looked for collaborators on campus and in workshops, usually without success. “In 2021, hardly anyone has linked waste to space,” he recalled. The idea of removing space debris on a commercial basis did not become apparent until a semester break on Crete.
An encouraging conversation with Airbus executives at the IAA mobility trade fair in Munich sparked the decision to launch a startup company. “They understood the problem and were happy that someone was dealing with it,” he said.
Shortly after the Project-S startup was founded, a new EU space law came into force requiring satellite operators to dispose of their debris, giving Askianakis’ project a timely boost.
Project-S plans to deploy satellites equipped with high-sensitivity radar and proprietary algorithms designed to detect fragments between one and 10 centimeters across. They will enable continuous, comprehensive orbit monitoring for the first time. Later, a robotic cleaning probe is used to remove larger fragments.
State-supported ambitions of Bavaria
However, space startups require more than personal passion. Who would invest in a debris-removal enterprise run by someone who is still in his twenties?
“We will do that,” says Hubert Awanger, the economics minister of the German federal state of Bavaria.
Bavaria has invested more than €245 million ($284 million) in various space projects, including a planned lunar operations center and several high-innovation startups.
“Companies and research institutes can pursue projects here that would probably never be realized anywhere else,” Aiwanger told DW. He said the regional state wants to remain “the backbone of European space flight”.
Receiving €1 million of co-funding from the state, Askianakis says his Californian investors were shocked to hear that Bavaria provided the funds without taking equity. “They asked: ‘That’s just how you get funding?'”
Project-S is now scheduled to launch its first space mission in 2026. Askianakis says the state grant gives the project independence, as many American investors may need to relocate the founders. “Why would I do that when I have ideal conditions in Bavaria?” He noted.
From punchlines to space power
Bavaria’s space sector is also looking to Berlin, where the federal government has announced €35 billion in upcoming space and defense investments.
Aiwanger calls it a good start, but not enough. The state will continue to move forward on its own, he said, “because we understand both the potential and the responsibility.”
A few years ago, the idea of making Bavaria a space station, including building satellites, training astronauts, or even launching lunar missions, would have drawn laughs.
But today, Bavaria’s space boom is no longer science fiction but economic strategy.
The sector now accounts for more than 10,000 high-skilled jobs and has secured €2.9 billion in ESA contracts – around 40% of Germany’s total ESA funding since 2015.
As Bavaria reaches for the stars, Askianakis wants to ensure the path to the top remains clear. After all, when Earth’s orbit gets crowded, someone has to make room.
This article was originally written in German.