Strategy for Active Debris Removal Using Electrodynamic Tether

Abstract

In this study, the active removal of space debris is studied from the point of view of technological feasibility. First, the actual debris distribution is analyzed to determine which debris objects should be removed considering the effectiveness in preventing collisional cascading and feasibility such as the delta-V required for rendezvous with the objects. Target regions such as sun-synchronous orbit and a 1,000km altitude, 83 degree inclination orbit are then selected and rendezvous with debris object in these regions are studied. Electrodynamic tether is promising as a highly-efficient propulsion system required for debris de-orbit in these regions. A small piggyback-launched satellite to dispose of one debris object, and a dedicated debris removal satellite which removes several debris objects from crowded regions are proposed. Precise numerical simulations of EDT are performed to evaluate the de-orbit time.