Power beaming for orbital debris removal
Power beaming for orbital debris removal
复制标题
用于清除轨道碎片的功率发射
DOI：
10.1117/12.321604
复制
发表时间：
1998
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Charles R. Taylor
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Jonathan W. Campbell;Charles R. Taylor
Orbital debris in low-Earth orbit ranging in size from 1 to 10 cm in diameter can be detected but not tracked reliably enough to be easily avoided by spacecraft. In addition, shielding protection is extremely difficult and costly to accomplish for sizes above 1 - 2 cm. Debris in this size regime traveling at mean velocities on the order of 20000 miles per hour may cause catastrophic damage. Using adaptive optics technologies, a ground-based pulsed laser of sufficient power ablating the debris particle's surface to produce small momentum changes may, in several hundred pulses, lower a target debris particle's perigee sufficiently for atmospheric capture. A single laser facility could remove all of the 1 - 10 cm debris below 1500 km in altitude in approximately three years. A technology demonstration of ground based laser removal is proposed which would pave the way for the implementation of such a debris removal system. The cost of the proposed demonstration is comparable with the estimated annual cost of spacecraft operations in the present orbital debris environment.
