Active Debris Removal activities in CNES

第5回スペースデブリワークショップ (2013年1月22-23日. 宇宙航空研究開発機構調布航空宇宙センター), 調布市, 東京

5th Space Debris Workshop (January 22-23, 2013, Chofu Aerospace Center, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)), Chofu, Tokyo, Japan

A vast majority of studies led at international level, mainly in the frame of IADC, has shown that the future stabilization of the orbital density in Low Earth Orbits (LEO) imposes the active retrieval each year of some 5 to 10 large debris. This Active Debris Removal (ADR) activity, theorized since more than 30 years, appears now as a must since 2007 and the Fengyun 1C destruction, then the Iridium 33-Cosmos 2251 collision. CNES has published on ADR since 1998 and has been pro-active on the subject ever since, mainly through internal studies jointly led by the Toulouse Space Centre and the Launcher Directorate, through industrial studies financed since 2009 and through numerous smaller actions at laboratory or academic studies performed on the most sensitive technological hurdles. The first part of the paper is devoted to the elaboration of the high level requirements, mainly devoted to the number, type, and frequency of objects to be retrieved, together with the influence of the date of operational availability of an ADR system. This activity is fundamentally led at international level, mainly throughcooperation with JAXA, NASA and Russian entities. Some questions are of paramount importance, such as the acceptability of a random re-entry, potentially non compliant with applicable safety rules. The second part deals with the various potential schemes at system level, trading between small chasers devoted to a single debris up to huge ones dealing with some 25 to 30 debris, with numerous variants using de-orbiting kits, or medium sized Orbital Transfer Vehicles OTV dealing each with some 4 or 5 debris. The third part aims at identifying the criticality of the technologies required for ADR operations. Five functions are identified: long-range rendezvous; short-range rendezvous up to contact; mechanical interfacing; control of the chaser-debris assembly; de-orbiting. For each of these functions, associated sub-systems and equipment are identified together with their degree of maturity. The specificities of ADR compared to “conventional” rendezvous missions are identified, mainly the fact that rendezvous is performed with non-cooperative, un-prepared, potentially tumbling, potentially optically undetermined object. The fact that a debris may be dangerous in some cases, prone to explosion at contact, is addressed. The fourth part of the study gives a status on some of the “smaller” studies led in the frame of ADR, such as the control of the “chaser-tether-debris” assembly required for a towing de-orbiting solution, as well as most recent results concerning the potential random movement of debris in orbit. As a conclusion, the paper deals rapidly with the non-technical issues of ADR, and proposes potential ways to be explored.

形態: カラー図版あり

Physical characteristics: Original contains color illustrations

資料番号: AA0062322004

レポート番号: JAXA-SP-13-018