Active Debris Removal Missions with Multiple Targets

Abstract

A method for the selection of the target sequence for the removal of exhausted upper stages, which are a considerable part of orbit debris in low Earth orbit, is proposed. The method is based on the evaluation of favorable opportunities to transfer the spacecraft between possible targets that have the same inclination. The effect of Earth's oblateness perturbation is particularly relevant in terms of regression of the nodes, and can be exploited to reduce the transfer costs. A fast procedure is used to estimate rendezvous time and cost. An evolutionary algorithm is then used to determine the actual legs of the most promising opportunities of multiple-target missions. The method is tested and used to design missions for the removal of five of the Russian Kosmos 3M rocket bodies still in orbit in the 82-degree inclination vicinity.

Target sequence optimization for multiple debris rendezvous using low thrust based on characteristics of SSO

“…Olympio and Frouvelle [8] studied the selection of debris for removal in sunsynchronous orbits (SSO) region and guidance to the selected debris using low-thrust propulsion. Casalino and Pastrone [9] proposed a technique to evaluate the favorable times for nullifying the difference in right ascension of ascending node (RAAN) between all the debris pairs by J 2 perturbation. To promote the further development of optimal shugezhao@163.com planning of this problem, a multiple debris rendezvous problem was proposed as the 8th China Trajectory Optimization Competition (CTOC) problem.…”

Ant Colony Optimization-based Design of Multiple-target Active Debris Removal Mission

“…Let a mean be the mean value of the semi-major axis among the two debris orbits, and v cir is the corresponding local circular speed at the beginning of a maneuver. To approximate the in-plane transfer cost, we follow the idea introduced in 9) that the effects of phasing can be neglected here since a sufficient transfer time is allowed. Thus, the Hohmann-based approximator is adopted for the problem of optimal fuel inplane transfer.…”

“…Thus, the Hohmann-based approximator is adopted for the problem of optimal fuel inplane transfer. The ÁV for in-plane change is defined in 9) as…”

“…Indeed, a fine-grained discretization step is beneficial with regards to the quality of the solution, but highly detrimental to the computation time. With the purpose of achieving a good balance between computation time and quality of the solution, Casalino 9) approximated the accurate transfer times and the corresponding costs based on the use of the J2 effect only to nullify the right ascension of the ascending node (RAAN) differences between any debris pair. Cerf 10) and Izzo et al 4) considered the cost and duration for each transfer as a linear function to make the dynamic problem static.…”

“…In order to remove as many as debris targets as possible in limited time, it may be necessary to correct the RAAN difference by actively using engine thrust actively in addition to the J2 effect. Despite the advancements in previous works [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] , most of the approximation methods proposed have focused on only one manner of RAAN correction.…”