Due to the increasing thread space debris pose for the future space exploration, an active space debris removal mission is nowadays considered as one of the main priorities for maintain the space usage sustainability. The active debris removal approach proposed in this study exploits a so called Space Garbage Truck (SGT) in charge of collect multiple dead satellites and move all of them in a single controlled re-entry trajectory. Debris are not collected directly by the SGT but a Waste Collector Robot (WCR) equipped with a standard docking interface and an autonomous, reusable and (if required) refillable propulsion system for orbiting maneuver and close proximity operations. One or more WCRs are lunched integrated in the SGT. Once the SGT reaches a nominal orbit in the proximity of the target debris to remove; the WCR undocks and reaches one target. The debris is then brought back to the SGT by means of the WCR propulsion system and thrown into a dedicated section of the SGT. After all the WCRs complete their mission, the SGT performs the final controlled re-entry maneuvers with all the debris collected.
The Satellite Sweeper Approach for the Solution of the Space Debris Problem
Pierpaolo, PergolaPrimo
;Angelo, PasiniSecondo
2016-01-01
Abstract
Due to the increasing thread space debris pose for the future space exploration, an active space debris removal mission is nowadays considered as one of the main priorities for maintain the space usage sustainability. The active debris removal approach proposed in this study exploits a so called Space Garbage Truck (SGT) in charge of collect multiple dead satellites and move all of them in a single controlled re-entry trajectory. Debris are not collected directly by the SGT but a Waste Collector Robot (WCR) equipped with a standard docking interface and an autonomous, reusable and (if required) refillable propulsion system for orbiting maneuver and close proximity operations. One or more WCRs are lunched integrated in the SGT. Once the SGT reaches a nominal orbit in the proximity of the target debris to remove; the WCR undocks and reaches one target. The debris is then brought back to the SGT by means of the WCR propulsion system and thrown into a dedicated section of the SGT. After all the WCRs complete their mission, the SGT performs the final controlled re-entry maneuvers with all the debris collected.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.