Effectiveness of CubeSat-Based Architectures for Active Removal of On-Orbit Rocket Bodies
Name
clark_ascend_draft_final.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
503.83 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
edbe93586e33ec3105afbc083ab1ee3b
Author(s)
Clark, Christopher P.
Tan, Dun Y.
Arnal Luna, Patricia
Hastings, Daniel E.
Masterson, Rebecca A.
Ricard, Michael J.
Date Issued
November 2020
Journal
Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery Conference
Publisher
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Citation
Clark, Christopher P. et al. "Effectiveness of CubeSat-Based Architectures for Active Removal of On-Orbit Rocket Bodies." Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery Conference, November 2020, virtual event, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, November 2020. © 2020 The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Recent events such as the 2009 Iridium-Cosmos collision and multiple anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) tests have propelled the increasingly urgent topic of space debris management to the forefront of current engineering inquiry. Simultaneously, the so-called “CubeSat Revolution” has significantly reduced barriers to entry for commercial and scientific space missions. Cube-Sats have demonstrated an ever-increasing potential to offer useful capabilities for a fraction of the size, mass, and power of their larger counterparts. This paper explores the relevance and effectiveness of CubeSat architectures in active space debris removal by propulsive methods. The chosen target of interest is the Zenit-2 second-stage rocket body, representative of a particularly large and prevalent family of debris objects. The debris removal mission design problem is approached from a fundamental level. First, the CubeSat architecture design tradespace is defined and outlined, including the proposed design vector, constraints, and objective function. Next, a system model and optimization methods are presented and implemented in MATLAB. Given a set of mission requirements, the algorithm arrives at an optimal or near-optimal architecture design by iterating through combinations of commercially available CubeSat components stored in a database. Results are examined for various deorbiter CubeSat designs, and key tradeoffs between architecture options are identified and explored. Finally, considering the optimized results, a discussion of the most effective propulsive solutions for Zenit-2 rocket body removal using CubeSat clusters is presented.
MIT Department
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2020-4241
