Effectiveness of CubeSat-Based Architectures for Active Removal of On-Orbit Rocket Bodies

Abstract

Recent events such as the 2009 Iridium-Cosmos collision and multiple anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) tests have propelled the increasingly urgent topic of space debris management to the forefront of current engineering inquiry. Simultaneously, the so-called "CubeSat Revolution" has significantly reduced barriers to entry for commercial and scientific space missions. Cube-Sats have demonstrated an ever-increasing potential to offer useful capabilities for a fraction of the size, mass, and power of their larger counterparts. This paper explores the relevance and effectiveness of CubeSat architectures in active space debris removal by propulsive methods. The chosen target of interest is the Zenit-2 second-stage rocket body, representative of a particularly large and prevalent family of debris objects. The debris removal mission design problem is approached from a fundamental level. First, the CubeSat architecture design tradespace is defined and outlined, including the proposed design vector, constraints, and objective function. Next, a system model and optimization methods are presented and implemented in MatLab. Given a set of mission requirements, the algorithm arrives at an optimal or near-optimal architecture design by iterating through combinations of commercially available CubeSat components stored in a database. Results are examined for various sizes and numbers of deorbiter CubeSats, and key tradeoffs between architecture options are identified and explored. Finally, considering the optimized results, a discussion of the most effective propulsive solutions for Zenit-2 rocket body removal using CubeSat clusters is presented.