Active Removal and Situational Awareness of Space Debris in Low Earth Orbits

近地轨道空间碎片的主动清除和态势感知

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-04359
• 负责人: Sharf, Inna
• 金额: $ 2.84万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=760282
• 关键词: Active; Removal; Situational; Awareness; Space

The build-up of debris from human activities in space over the past 60 years has become a critical issue, particularly in the very commercial low Earth orbits (LEO). It is widely accepted that this situation must be addressed if humans are to continue sustainable exploitation of near Earth space. This acknowledgement has spurred intense research on ways to curtail space debris growth, and remediate the space environment. I propose to increase technology readiness levels of existing solutions, to advance our understanding and to develop novel methodologies to address key issues in this multifaceted problem. The first focus of this proposal is on active debris removal. There is now broad consensus on the need to remove five to ten large debris objects per year; yet, there is no agreement on the best technology to deploy for such a mission. Building on my prior research on the use of tethered nets for capture of large space debris, I will further advance the tethered-net solution through the development and evaluation of net closing methods to ensure debris containment; by investigating strategies for system stabilization after capture; and through experimental demonstration of the tethered-net concept for debris capture. For the subsequent phase of the mission, the de-orbiting of the resulting tethered chaser-debris system, I propose to investigate tether-assisted concepts---through tether swinging and spinning---for braking the debris into a descent towards the Earth's atmosphere. My second research focus falls under the umbrella of space situational awareness of the debris environment. Within this broad domain, I will work on improving our understanding and advancing prediction capabilities for the motion of large space debris, with emphasis on their rotational motion. This research will answer the basic questions: where will the debris be at some time in the future and how will it be spinning? Because the debris are tumbling uncontrollably, their attitude has a time-varying effect on the perturbation forces and torques experienced in orbit, such as, the aerodynamic drag and solar radiation pressure. These in turn directly influence the orbit and location of debris. We will work to expand our understanding of how uncertainties in our current models of perturbation effects affect the uncertainties in the propagation and formulate stochastic models to quantify these effects. We will explore the use of observational data, jointly with our predictive models, to formulate estimation algorithms for parameters, perturbations and the attitude motion of the debris. Canada is a space faring nation: it launches satellites and Canadian people depend on our space assets to function reliably over their life-time. Given the threats presented by space debris to functional assets, it is critical that we have expertise to participate in future debris removal missions, as well as, the knowledge and tools to predict the impact of debris on the space environment.

过去 60 年来人类在太空活动造成的碎片堆积已成为一个关键问题，特别是在高度商业化的低地球轨道 (LEO) 中。人们普遍认为，如果人类要继续可持续地开发近地空间，就必须解决这种情况。这一认识激发了人们对如何减少空间碎片增长和修复空间环境的深入研究。我建议提高现有解决方案的技术准备水平，增进我们的理解并开发新的方法来解决这个多方面问题中的关键问题。 该提案的第一个重点是主动清除碎片。现在人们普遍认为每年需要清除五到十个大型碎片物体；然而，对于为此类任务部署的最佳技术尚未达成一致。在我之前关于使用系留网捕获大型空间碎片的研究的基础上，我将通过开发和评估网络关闭方法来进一步推进系留网解决方案，以确保碎片遏制；通过研究捕获后系统稳定的策略；并通过实验演示用于碎片捕获的系留网概念。对于任务的后续阶段，即所产生的系留追击碎片系统的脱轨，我建议研究系留辅助概念——通过系留摆动和旋转——以制动碎片向地球大气层下降。我的第二个研究重点属于碎片环境的空间态势感知。在这个广泛的领域内，我将致力于提高我们对大型空间碎片运动的理解并提高预测能力，重点是它们的旋转运动。这项研究将回答一些基本问题：未来某个时候碎片会在哪里以及它们将如何旋转？由于碎片不受控制地翻滚，它们的姿态对轨道上受到的扰动力和扭矩（例如空气动力阻力和太阳辐射压力）具有随时间变化的影响。这些反过来又直接影响碎片的轨道和位置。我们将努力扩大对当前扰动效应模型中的不确定性如何影响传播的不确定性的理解，并制定随机模型来量化这些影响。我们将探索使用观测数据与我们的预测模型相结合，制定碎片参数、扰动和姿态运动的估计算法。加拿大是一个航天国家：它发射卫星，加拿大人民依靠我们的航天资产在一生中可靠地运转。鉴于空间碎片对功能资产构成的威胁，我们拥有参与未来碎片清除任务的专业知识以及预测碎片对空间环境影响的知识和工具至关重要。