The presentation will explain the "Tech for Space Care" initiative aiming to develop technological elements to ensure the sustainable use of space and the security of space operations in synergy with CleanSpace ESA activities
In a second part will focus on the update of the Overview of CNES activities related to the compliance of the satellites with FSOA in the 2017.
Abstract
The introduction of Space Debris Mitigation requirements at national, European and international level has to be taken into account in the platform design: as a consequence, Airbus has adapted the end of life strategies for its different LEO platforms in order to comply with the different SDM requirements.
Parallel to this, several technologies aiming to support the platform...
The presentation will outline Thales Alenia Space’s vision to enhance the compliance of its LEO platform productline to the space debris mitigation requirements. A review of these requirements as well as the technical challenges they pose is addressed. The presentation then moves to illustrate existing strategies and ways to build upon these strategies to improve the current compliance status....
The increasing number of space debris has become problematic for the sustainment of space activities in Earth orbit. Several spacecraft breakups have been observed in the past and some of them are due to a battery breakup. In order to mitigate the risk to generate debris in the future, passivation of the spacecraft after end of mission is now required. One way to achieve passivation is to...
Since human started to send active satellites on the orbit they needed some energy source and means to store it. Since them there are thousands of active and inactive satellites flying on orbits around the Earth. In recent years most of the spacecrafts send in to space are equipped batteries made of lithium-ion 18650 cells. They have many advantages compare to older designs. Lithium-ion cells...
We have established and applied the software tool “PHILOS-SOPHIA” that enables a non-expert user to perform hydrocode simulations of hypervelocity collisions on orbit. It relies on high-fidelity hydrocode simulations, which is the best method for systematically studying the processes and effects of orbit fragmentations for a wide range of impact conditions and for complex space systems. Other...
Recent studies have highlighted reaction wheels as critical elements which are likely to survive re-entry and contribute to casualty risk. The major element of concern is the flywheel which is often constructed of stainless steel in larger reaction wheels, although the survival of the steel ball bearing unit due to its shielded location is also an issue. Baseline simulations with the SAM tool...
Design-for-demise (D4D) looks at technical solutions to reduce the casualty risk on ground of re-entering satellites and their components by promoting demise during atmospheric re-entry. Earlier studies have shown that the early release of the satellite structure will also help to improve the overall demise of the satellite. In order to understand betterbetter understand the behaviour of...
It is now well established that spacecraft manufacturers and launch
service providers have a duty of care to understand and mitigate the
ground casualty risk posed by their products such that this risk can be
demonstrably managed within acceptable levels. In order to achieve
this, an ability to determine the likely ground casualty risk that a
vehicle poses given its as-designed configuration...
According to international safety guidelines the on-ground casualty risk of a re-entering object shall not exceed 1 in 10,000. The casualty expectancy can be reduced in two ways (1) by selecting a suitable impact area and population density within, or (2) by reducing the casualty area of the surviving fragment. Due to the high cost associated with a controlled re-entry the latter option has...
In this abstract the final results on the ESA TRP study (ITT AO/1-8301) “demiseable Propellant Tanks Materials and Technologies” are presented.
The replacement of Titanium with an aluminium alloy is confirmed to be the most promising approach given the major impact in terms of tank demiseability. Based on the design trade-off, which was confirmed by the material testing performed, it was...
The object of this study is to further investigate the break-up processes of a reaction wheel during re-entry. The ball bearing unit (BBU) was already identified as a key element (demising late) during the demise process in previous studies. Potential design changes are analyzed with regards to the optimization of demisability. First simulations show that a reaction wheel with an aluminum...
In order to improve reduce ground casualty risk on ground, technical solutions need to be identified which promote atmospheric demise of the spacecraft and respective components. One approach is to enable the early opening of external structural elements in order to begin the demise of internal components earlier. Taking into consideration the results of testing of state-of-the-art joining...
Previous D4D studies at system level have clearly shown that, in order to reduce the risk posed by re-entering satellites, an integrated approach to design for demise is more efficient or, for large satellites, even required. Re-entry simulations demonstrated that solutions at component or equipment level might not be enough to effectively reduce the re-entry casualty risk, and that a...
ALTRAN Research Team created in 2013, initially intented to focus on space safety topics. Due to the emergence of space debris recommentations anad regulations for space industry, the research team initial activities adressed the flight and ground aspects (satellite robustness to micro-meteroids and orbital debris & trade-off between atmospheric controled reentry and design for...
As more and more man made space objects orbit around the Earth and crucial orbits are crowded with end-of-life objects. The use of deorbiting maneuvers is a solution to free crucial orbits from near end-of-life space objects by sending back on Earth while controlling the location of the reentry in order to minimize the risk for human populations. Yet, even during a controlled reentry, the...
In the frame of the French Space Operation Act (LOS) signed on 3rd June 2008, CNES is particularly interested by re-entries of space debris. CNES is indeed in charge of ensuring the right application of the law, for every mission launched or operated from the French territory. To predict the debris survivability during their re-entries and assess the prospective risk on ground, the development...
Historically, re-entry risk assessment has followed a process which defines the calculations required to be made. Recently, the limitations of this relatively simple process, with respect to both the physical phenomena and the attempts to specifically alter the design of spacecraft to promote demise, have become evident.
Significant recent progress has been made in the understanding of...
Most medium and large LEO spacecraft will contain parts which are likely to survive a re-entry. When too many of such parts exist on any one satellite, this can pose a risk to humans on ground, above the regulatory threshold, and a controlled re-entry, with a well-defined impact footprint in an uninhabited area becomes necessary. However, this is implemented at a cost in complexity and mass...
With the growing number of satellites launched in Space, Agencies have implemented rules to remove satellites at their End-of-Life from space by themselves or actively with Active Debris Removal missions. However, this poses a new threat on Earth, with surviving parts after re-entry, and in space, as they can collide with other objects while decreasing their altitude. Complying with these...
An overview of the current status of Pre-Qualification of Aluminium-Free Solid Propellant is given in this presentation. Advantages of solid propulsion for satellite de-orbit are shown and proposed mission scenarios are the source of requirements of the system, motor and propellant itself. The first step in development of Solid Rocket Motor for deorbitation was made with elaboration of a...
One major source of new space debris are spacecraft that are not removed from orbit after the end of their operational lifetime. Many regulations (e.g. ISO 24113) require the removal of spacecraft at the end of operation - known as Post Mission Disposal (PMD) - with a compliance rate of 90% to ensure that spacecraft do not become a new source of space debris. An analysis performed by ESA shows...
Deorbiting a large spacecraft at the end-of life from LEO requires a robust system. For a defunct satellite, which cannot rely on its primary systems any further, a dedicated deorbiting package is preferred. Providing high thrust, a solid rocket motor can be a reliable controlled deorbiting method, which requires an equally dependable component for steering to the required trajectory.
Almatech...
In the last years D-Orbit has been involved in five major projects at European level on the topic of space debris.
Three projects were in the frame of the ESA'e Clean Space Initiative, while the other two were founded by the European Commission in the frame of the Horizon 2020 programme.
All those programmes are completed or about to be completed: these allowed D-Orbit to consistently...
The ADEO subsystem is a scalable drag augmentation device that uses the residual Earth atmosphere present in Low Earth Orbit applicable for passive de-orbit of satellites between 1 kg to 1000kg. For initiation of the de-orbit maneuver a large surface is deployed which multiplies the drag effective surface of the satellite. Thereby the drag force is increased as well causing accelerated decay...
ARTICA is a project started in 2015 with the aim to develop a ultra-compact passive deorbiting sail for cubesats. The scope was to parallely embrace the two antagonist aspects of the last decade: on one side the foreseen explosive growth of cubesat launches and on the other side the necessity to pose a limit to the consequent LEO orbit population and space debris generation.
ARTICA has been...
Solar and drag sailing have been proposed as passive end-of-life deorbiting methods, and technological demonstrators are under development. In the drag dominated regime the required area-to-mass-ratio for deorbiting a sail spacecraft is primarily dependant on the semi-major axis, growing exponentially with increasing altitude. In the solar radiation pressure dominated regime, the required...
Formalized and internationally supported space debris mitigation guidelines have been in place for several decades. Since 2010, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published a comprehensive set of space system engineering standards aimed at mitigating space debris. These standards and guidelines reflect the common requirements and practices around the globe and are...
