Small satellite de-orbital system using magnetic field controlled plasma

Abstract

Space Debris is one of the major challenges for the Aerospace community today. The presence of decommissioned satellites as well as rocket bodies from old missions has led to the overpopulation of the Lower Earth Orbit and Geostationary Orbit to the point that it has become a safety hazard for satellites in operation as well as a massive obstruction to future missions. In order to completely access the space infrastructure, space debris management is necessary. The focus of this paper is constricted to small debris particles in the Lower Earth Orbit which are relatively harder to catalogue and can cause fatal damages to the satellites in the orbit. Since the removal of existing debris is not feasible at the moment, we can ensure the prevention of creation of more debris in the future by an efficient de-orbital system for the small satellites. The main problem related to end-of-life manoeuvres of small satellites is that their low area-to-mass ratio makes them insusceptible to already-low atmospheric drag. The satellites are only dependant on a reserve propellant which itself adds to the cost of the mission. Therefore, we require an economical, lightweight, fuel-less system that can be easily integrated to small satellites and decelerate them at a controlled rate so that they can be safely deorbited. The plasma particles present in upper atmosphere are known to have a destabilizing effect on orbiting satellites. In the lower atmosphere, the drag effect of plasma increases due to its interaction with the surrounding neutral particles of the atmosphere. Thus, the effect of plasma combined with geomagnetism can be tapped to provide a small decelerating effect to the small satellites in LEO. The paper shall focus on the design and development of such a system that can deorbit the satellite safely in less than 10 years and ensure that it does not cause any hindrance to operation of other satellites.