Speaker
Mr
Christopher Sprague
(Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
Description
It is well known that orbital debris about Earth impose increasingly stringent restrictions on the operation and commissioning of both current and future space applications. These orbital debris, which are becoming ever so prevalent, can literally destroy a satellite. Even particles of diminutive stature can result in disastrous ramifications. Many of these endangered satellites, of which humans are reliant upon for supplying the infrastructure necessary to support modern life in the twenty-first century, routinely have to perform avoidance maneuvers in response to ground data indicating that an object is on a trajectory that could pose a threat, negating away precious finite amounts fuel. These orbital debris are vexatious, with respect to not only a spacecraft's integrity, but also its lifespan. It is imperative that a solution be realized. This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing modular cubesats to deorbit space debris. A large high fidelity multidisciplinary simulation is constructed with the goal to simulate the cubesat's orbital and attitude dynamics, as well as its autonomous functions. Such autonomous functions will manifest in the development of autonomous control algorithms to execute mitigation procedures, such as path planning and rendezvous, as efficiently as possible with respect to multiple subsystems' criteria.
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Primary author
Mr
Christopher Sprague
(Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
