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Final design of a space debris removal systemThe objective is the removal of medium sized orbital debris in low Earth orbits. The design incorporates a transfer vehicle and a netting vehicle to capture the medium size debris. The system is based near an operational space station located at 28.5 degrees inclination and 400 km altitude. The system uses ground based tracking to determine the location of a satellite breakup or debris cloud. This data is unloaded to the transfer vehicle, and the transfer vehicle proceeds to rendezvous with the debris at a lower altitude parking orbit. Next, the netting vehicle is deployed, tracks the targeted debris, and captures it. After expending the available nets, the netting vehicle returns to the transfer vehicle for a new netting module and continues to capture more debris in the target area. Once all the netting modules are expended, the transfer vehicle returns to the space station's orbit, where it is resupplied with new netting modules from a space shuttle load. The new modules are launched by the shuttle from the ground, and the expended modules are taken back to Earth for removal of the captured debris, refueling, and repacking of the nets. Once the netting modules are refurbished, they are taken back into orbit for reuse. In a typical mission, the system has the ability to capture 50 pieces of orbital debris. One mission will take about six months. The system is designed to allow for a 30 degree inclination change on the outgoing and incoming trips of the transfer vehicle.
Document ID
19920016139
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Contractor Report (CR)
Authors
Carlson, Erika
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Casali, Steve
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Chambers, Don
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Geissler, Garner
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Lalich, Andrew
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Leipold, Manfred
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Mach, Richard
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Parry, John
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Weems, Foley
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
December 3, 1990
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Report/Patent Number
NASA-CR-189976
NAS 1.26:189976
Accession Number
92N25382
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NASW-4435
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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