Falling Walls Falling Walls Science Summit 2022

Facilitating the Space Sustainability: Breaking the Wall of Space Debris at Scale

Niklas Wendel

2022 2022 Winner 2022 Winner | Emerging Talents Emerging Talents

With his pitch, Niklas Wendel proposes a solution the the space debris problem: A technology which uses forces from the natural environment to remove debris from orbit and is cost-effective enough to be scaled to the size of the challenge.

Niklas Wendel

German Network of Young Scientists - juFORUM

Niklas studied aerospace engineering in a dual degree program at Baden-Württemberg Cooperate State University and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). After receiving his Bachelor’s degree, he joined DLR full-time and obtained a Master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Aachen University of Applied Sciences in parallel, which he completed in 2021. Currently, he is a research associate and incoming PhD student at DLR, specializing in developing electronics for flight experiments and space probes. On an honorary basis, he is former chairman of the German Network of Young Scientists – juFORUM e.V. (2018-2022). Currently, he holds the position of coordinator for cooperations within the organization. Furthermore, he is the current National Point of Contact for Germany at the Space Generation Advisory Council. In 2018, he initiated a working group focussed on developing technologies for scalable space debris removal and mitigation, and working towards their implementation.