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Sizing of "Mother Ship and Catcher" Missions for LEO Small Debris and for GEO Large Object Capture
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Bacon, John B. |
| Copyright Year | 2009 |
| Abstract | Abstract: Most LEO debris lies in a limited number of inclination "bands" associated with specific useful orbits. Objects in such narrow inclination bands have all possible Right Ascensions of Ascending Node (RAANs), creating a different orbit plane for nearly every piece of debris. However, a low-orbiting satellite will always phase in RAAN faster than debris objects in higher orbits at the same inclination, potentially solving the problem. Such a low-orbiting base can serve as a "mother ship" that can tend and then send small, disposable common individual catcher/deboost devices--one for each debris object--as the facility drifts into the same RAAN as each higher object. The dV necessary to catch highly-eccentric orbit debris in the center of the band alternatively allows the capture of less-eccentric debris in a wider inclination range around the center. It is demonstrated that most LEO hazardous debris can be removed from orbit in three years, using a single LEO launch of one mother ship--with its onboard magazine of freeflying low-tech catchers--into each of ten identified bands, with second or potentially third launches into only the three highest-inclination bands. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090041616.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
