Study of the Possibility of Using the Mechanics of Inflatable Braking Devices to Remove the Spacecraft

Abstract

The problem of accumulation of space debris in near-Earth space is very relevant now. More than 15,000 debris have been recorded, and this represents a danger for current and future missions to space. A solution to this issue is to remove these spacecrafts from orbit. One of the ways to do it is to use inflatable device. These inflatable braking device can be installed on the landing vehicles on Earth, before their launch, or after they have been labelled as space debris. Studies have already been conducted about inflatable device. Using inflatable device instead of rigid device has advantages, such as a small mass and a great compacity, which is convenient to respect the required launching volume. This paper is dedicated to use of various inflatable brake devices and they are compared with each other.