What is it about?
This study focuses on developing a multi-active debris removal mission that uses controlled reentry and deorbiting. The mission comprises two spacecraft: a Servicer that brings debris to a low altitude and a Shepherd that rendezvous with the debris to later perform a controlled reentry. A preliminary mission design tool (PMDT) was developed to obtain time and fuel optimal trajectories for the proposed mission while considering the effect of J2, drag, eclipses, and duty cycle. The PMDT can perform such trajectory optimizations for multi-debris missions with computational time under a minute. Three guidance algorithms are also studied, taking the PMDT solution as a reference to validate the design methodology and provide guidance solutions to this complex mission profile.
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Why is it important?
The PMDT tool developed in this work is able to generate highly accurate optimal trajectories within minutes. It is extremely useful in the context of autonomy, as it can be done onboard a spacecraft. The trajectory generated can then be tracked via classical guidance laws, or any novel methodologies.
Perspectives
This paper is written with the fundamental purpose of space sustainability in mind. Reducing debris in space is crucial at this time, to avoid a collision cascade. This work helps in achieving that.
Minduli Wijayatunga
University of Auckland
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Design and guidance of a multi-active debris removal mission, Astrodynamics, February 2023, Tsinghua University Press,
DOI: 10.1007/s42064-023-0159-3.
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