Ion Beam Shepherd for Contactless Space Debris Removal

In recent years, space debris problems have become very serious. The worst case occurs in the low Earth orbit (LEO) region, where debris-to-debris collisions generate new debris. The situation in the geostationary orbit (GEO) region is not as bad as that in the LEO. The debris problem in the GEO region, however, should not be left as it is because the GEO is unique and has few debris-cleansing modes. Thus, we proposed a concept for a reorbiter to reorbit large GEO debris objects such as satellites and rocket upper stages left in orbit after the ends of their missions. This concept is based on the idea of thrusting a debris object by irradiating it with an ion beam. The reorbiter, equipped with two ion engines, approaches a debris object, and the ion beam exhausted from one of the ion engines irradiates and thrusts it to change its orbit. The other engine on the opposite side is operated so that the reorbiter follows the debris object. Their orbits are raised in a spiral to a disposal orbit approximately 300 km higher. After that, the reorbiter returns to GEO to approach another debris object. This system can operate without catching debris objects; thus, it can be applied to a wide range of debris objects without regard to their shapes or rotations. A mission scenario was made to conduct efficient maneuvers. In the GEO region, a number of debris objects are distributed on orbit planes close to each other, and they can be reorbited one after another using a single reorbiter. For a typical model mission, the mission time and the total impulse of the ion engines were calculated. The results show that six debris objects can be reorbited in 170 days. The reorbiter has a targeted launch mass of 2500 kg and 6.9 kW of total power. The ion beam convergence, the effects of ion beam irradiation, and non-cooperative rendezvous were recognized as the critical issues of this system. A highly converged beam is required to make efficient debris irradiation. Numerical calculations and basic experiments gave a feasibility of the required irradiation efficiency of over 25%. The irradiation of debris objects may cause sputtering of their surfaces and depositions of the back-sputtered materials on the reorbiter surface. The data were obtained experimentally to evaluate the effects of the depositions, especially on solar cells. The results indicated no serious contamination problems. Preliminary studies were conducted on the approach to an uncollaborative object and the maintenance of the separation distance.

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“…The same concept was also proposed by other researchers, but their interest is in deorbiting debris objects in the LEO region 7,8 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

A reorbiter for large GEO debris objects using ion beam irradiation

2014

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“…A preliminary performance study conducted in Ref. 3 has shown that a typical 2-ton LEO debris can be deorbited in a 3-4 months with an ion beam with F B 100 mN, on board of a shepherd satellite of a few hundred kilograms. Figure 2 displays information on the deorbiting time for different debris masses and forces.…”

Section: The Ion Beam Shepherdmentioning

confidence: 99%

Space Debris Removal with an Ion Beam Shepherd Satellite: target-plasma interaction

Merino¹,

Ahedo²,

Bombardelli³

et al. 2011

47th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference &Amp;amp; Exhibit

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A novel concept for active space debris removal known as Ion Beam Shepherd (IBS) which has been recently presented by our group is investigated. The concept makes use of a highly collimated ion beam to exert the necessary force on a generic debris to modify its orbit and/or attitude from a safe distance in a controlled manner, without the need of docking. After describing the main characteristics of the IBS system, some of the key aspects of thruster plasma and its interaction with the debris are studied, namely, (1) the modeling of the expansion of an plasma beam, based on the quasi-selfsimilarity exhibited by hypersonic plumes, (2) the characterization of the force and torque exerted upon the target debris, and (3) a preliminary evaluation of other plasma-body interactions.

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“…This enhanced model allows for the effects of atmospheric rotation, and hence initial orbit inclination, to be included in the analysis but still assumes an initially circular orbit. Using this enhanced model the approximate decay time of a circular orbit under atmospheric drag is, 26 (17) where, subscript c denotes the initial conditions of the circular orbit, is the negative change in orbit radius, is the initial atmospheric density, assuming an exponential atmospheric model from Eq. (19), is defined in Eq.…”

Section: Potential Use Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Needs Assessment of Gossamer Structures in Communications Platform End-of-Life Disposal

Macdonald¹,

McInnes²,

Bewick³

2013

AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Conference

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The use of a gossamer structure is considered in application to end-of-life disposal of communications platforms. A wide-ranging survey of end-of-life disposal techniques and strategies is presented for comparison against a gossamer structure prior to a down-selection of viable competing techniques; solar sailing, high and low-thrust propulsion, and electrodynamic tethers. A parametric comparison of the down-selection competing techniques is presented where it was found that exploiting solar radiation pressure on the gossamer structure was of limited value. In general terms, it was found that if a spacecraft propulsion system remains functioning at the end-of-life then this will likely provide the most efficient means of re-orbiting, especially when the propulsion system is only used to lower the orbit to a point where atmospheric drag will cause the orbit to decay within the required timeframe. Atmospheric drag augmentation was found to be of most benefit for end-of-life disposal when an entirely passive means is required, allowing the device to act as a 'fail-safe', which if the spacecraft suffers a catastrophic failure would activate. The use of an atmospheric drag augmentation system is applicable to only low and medium mass spacecraft, or spacecraft that are unlikely to survive atmospheric re-entry, hence minimizing risk to human life.

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Ion Beam Shepherd for Contactless Space Debris Removal

Cited by 177 publications

References 8 publications

A reorbiter for large GEO debris objects using ion beam irradiation

A reorbiter for large GEO debris objects using ion beam irradiation

Space Debris Removal with an Ion Beam Shepherd Satellite: target-plasma interaction

Needs Assessment of Gossamer Structures in Communications Platform End-of-Life Disposal

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