NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) 20110005437: Engineering Challenges for Active Debris Removal

Engineering Challenges for Active Debris Removal

J.-C. Liou

NASA Orbital Debris Program Office

Mail Code KX, NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway
Houston, TX 77058, USA; (28 1)-244-5975, jer-chyi.liou-l@nasa.gov

Recent modeling studies on the instability of the debris population in the low Earth
orbit (LEO) region and the collision between Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 have
underlined the need for active debris removal. A 2009 analysis by the NASA Orbital
Debris Program Office shows that, in order to maintain the LEO debris population at a
constant level for the next 200 years, an active debris removal of about five objects per
year is needed. The targets identified for removal are those with the highest mass and
collision probability products in the environment. Many of these objects are spent upper
stages with masses ranging from 1 to more than 8 metric tons, residing in several
altitude regions and concentrated in about 10 inclination bands. To remove five of those
objects on a yearly basis, in a cost-effective manner, represents many challenges in
engineering, technology development, and operations. This paper outlines a conceptual
end-to-end debris removal operation, including launch, precision tracking, rendezvous,
stabilization (of the tumbling targets), capture, and deorbit of the targets; and highlights
major challenges associated with the operations. Pros and cons of several proposed
removal techniques are also evaluated.