Speaker
Description
MICE (Mechanical Interface for Capture at End-of-Life) is a single-part passive interface designed for enabling the capture and de-orbiting of satellites at their End-of-Life or in premature malfunction by a Servicing Spacecraft in case the satellites cannot be deorbited by themselves.
MICE has been developed under several ESA contracts by a consortium led by GMV, in charge of system-level studies and requirement definition, and supported by AVS, in charge of mechanical design, analysis, manufacturing and environmental verification. MICE is part of the Clean Space effort in the area of D4R (Design for Removal) and it has been developed specifically to be integrated into upcoming Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions guaranteeing sustainability at their End-of-Life.
MICE development has included a Breadboard Model (BM) to raise to TRL 4 (2019), an Engineering Model (EM) to raise to TRL 6 (2021) and a Qualification Model (QM) to raise to TRL 7 (2023). QM is at the end of the qualification campaign right now. It has passed through a performance test, a mechanical vibration test, a thermo-optical properties test, and a thermal-vacuum test. The last test to perform is the bonding test, expected to be finished by end of July 2023. Qualification environment was defined to envelope the six Copernicus Sentinel Expansions missions’ requirements so with only one qualification campaign MICE is ready for all of them. The MICE qualification campaign is planned to close in September 2023 after a Qualification Review.
Servicing spacecrafts can capture MICE-integrated satellites by means of a robotic gripper. The same consortium developing MICE is also developing CAT, a complete Capture Bay for Servicers, under an ESA contract. CAT operates in two steps: first, a controlled approach to perform initial contact and capture by grasping MICE with a gripper, and second, a rigidization of the contact between Servicer and Target spacecrafts by means of three clamping mechanisms placed around the Launch Adapter Ring (LAR). The robotic gripper proposed in CAT design has been developed in parallel to MICE and will be used to verify functionality and performance in End-to-End tests at the Platform-art facility at GMV.
Current MICE design material is stainless steel 15-5PH (H1025). This material was selected to make MICE compatible with significant deorbiting loads in uncontrolled scenarios with potential extreme temperatures (>150ºC). With a wide range of environment and load compatibility, MICE has the potential to become a standard for mechanical capture of cooperative and uncooperative spacecrafts, not only for removal but also for servicing. Due to its small installation impact and its excellent and extensively verified performance, a simple mechanism like this one could make a big impact on the fight against debris generation.
