De-Orbit Sail Design for TechDemoSat-1

S Hobbs; J Kingston; Peter Roberts; Clara Juanes Vallejo; Richard Sewell; Boris Snapir; Fraser Robinson; Josep Virgili Llop; John Hobbs; M. Patel

De-Orbit Sail Design for TechDemoSat-1

S Hobbs, J Kingston, Peter Roberts, Clara Juanes Vallejo, Richard Sewell, Boris Snapir, Fraser Robinson, Josep Virgili Llop, John Hobbs, M. Patel

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

Space debris mitigation guidelines are widely accepted and increasingly implemented. The guidelines require satellites to be removed from the LEO region within 25 years of their end of mission. This article describes the design of a payload, Icarus, to achieve this for the UK’s TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) mission. Icarus was completed well within a year using limited resources. Its design was adapted to enable this while still meeting the requirements. An important driver was the need to pose no significant risk to TDS-1. The baseline design is for a randomly tumbling spacecraft with nominal orbit height of 686 km. Additional studies have been made to evaluate how this performance can be improved using active attitude control. The paper discusses issues raised in the development of this low-cost drag sail as a practical example of debris mitigation now waiting for launch on TDS-1.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	ESA SP-723: 6th European Conference on Space Debris
Publisher	European Space Agency
Publication status	Published - 2013
Event	6th European Conference on Space Debris - European Space Operations Centre, Damstadt, Germany Duration: 22 Apr 2013 → 25 Apr 2013

Conference

Conference	6th European Conference on Space Debris
City	European Space Operations Centre, Damstadt, Germany
Period	22/04/13 → 25/04/13

Cite this

@inproceedings{d4523af4bedf49668e10fc1270efcd93,

title = "De-Orbit Sail Design for TechDemoSat-1",

abstract = "Space debris mitigation guidelines are widely accepted and increasingly implemented. The guidelines require satellites to be removed from the LEO region within 25 years of their end of mission. This article describes the design of a payload, Icarus, to achieve this for the UK{\textquoteright}s TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) mission. Icarus was completed well within a year using limited resources. Its design was adapted to enable this while still meeting the requirements. An important driver was the need to pose no significant risk to TDS-1. The baseline design is for a randomly tumbling spacecraft with nominal orbit height of 686 km. Additional studies have been made to evaluate how this performance can be improved using active attitude control. The paper discusses issues raised in the development of this low-cost drag sail as a practical example of debris mitigation now waiting for launch on TDS-1.",

author = "S Hobbs and J Kingston and Peter Roberts and {Juanes Vallejo}, Clara and Richard Sewell and Boris Snapir and Fraser Robinson and {Virgili Llop}, Josep and John Hobbs and M. Patel",

year = "2013",

language = "English",

booktitle = "ESA SP-723: 6th European Conference on Space Debris",

publisher = "European Space Agency ",

address = "France",

note = "6th European Conference on Space Debris ; Conference date: 22-04-2013 Through 25-04-2013",

}

TY - GEN

T1 - De-Orbit Sail Design for TechDemoSat-1

AU - Hobbs, S

AU - Kingston, J

AU - Roberts, Peter

AU - Juanes Vallejo, Clara

AU - Sewell, Richard

AU - Snapir, Boris

AU - Robinson, Fraser

AU - Virgili Llop, Josep

AU - Hobbs, John

AU - Patel, M.

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - Space debris mitigation guidelines are widely accepted and increasingly implemented. The guidelines require satellites to be removed from the LEO region within 25 years of their end of mission. This article describes the design of a payload, Icarus, to achieve this for the UK’s TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) mission. Icarus was completed well within a year using limited resources. Its design was adapted to enable this while still meeting the requirements. An important driver was the need to pose no significant risk to TDS-1. The baseline design is for a randomly tumbling spacecraft with nominal orbit height of 686 km. Additional studies have been made to evaluate how this performance can be improved using active attitude control. The paper discusses issues raised in the development of this low-cost drag sail as a practical example of debris mitigation now waiting for launch on TDS-1.

AB - Space debris mitigation guidelines are widely accepted and increasingly implemented. The guidelines require satellites to be removed from the LEO region within 25 years of their end of mission. This article describes the design of a payload, Icarus, to achieve this for the UK’s TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) mission. Icarus was completed well within a year using limited resources. Its design was adapted to enable this while still meeting the requirements. An important driver was the need to pose no significant risk to TDS-1. The baseline design is for a randomly tumbling spacecraft with nominal orbit height of 686 km. Additional studies have been made to evaluate how this performance can be improved using active attitude control. The paper discusses issues raised in the development of this low-cost drag sail as a practical example of debris mitigation now waiting for launch on TDS-1.

M3 - Conference contribution

BT - ESA SP-723: 6th European Conference on Space Debris

PB - European Space Agency

T2 - 6th European Conference on Space Debris

Y2 - 22 April 2013 through 25 April 2013

ER -

De-Orbit Sail Design for TechDemoSat-1

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