Speaker
Description
ESA’s Zero Debris initiative targets ‘net zero pollution’ in orbit by 2030, introducing stricter Space Debris Mitigation (SDM) requirements for all spacecraft classes. While CubeSats have traditionally relied on natural decay to comply with orbital clearance rules, most currently do not meet the updated ESA standard, which imposes tighter limits on orbital lifetime and requires reliable passivation after end of life, enhanced health monitoring, and collision avoidance capabilities.
The CleanCube campaign addresses this gap by targeting an IOD mission no later than 2028 to demonstrate key Zero Debris technologies tailored for CubeSat platforms. The primary mission objectives are to demonstrate reliable end-of-life disposal with a success probability of at least 90%, permanent and irreversible passivation with a success probability of at least 95%, enhanced system resilience, monitoring and failure prediction, improved collision avoidance capabilities and spacecraft trackability during commissioning, and assessment of visual brightness and potential disturbances to radio astronomy.
The ZeDeCS project, conducted by Romanian InSpace Engineering (RISE), represents a Phase A study towards the development of this IOD mission. The mission, system, and subsystem requirements are defined, and a preliminary mission analysis and system design are provided. A 12U CubeSat platform on a 500-km altitude, 97.4-degree inclination Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) is proposed as the baseline option for the mission.
The mission objectives will be achieved through dedicated in-orbit experiments. An active deorbiting system will ensure re-entry within 5 years of the end of life, and solutions for Dead-on-Arrival, such as an autonomously activated drag augmentation device, will be implemented to warrant the 90% reliability figure. The passivation experiment shall consist of depleting all propellant tanks, batteries, and other onboard energy sources, with the 95% reliability to be ensured by failure mode analysis. High-frequency subsystem telemetry logging, autonomous wear-out data analysis and failure prognostics for COTS components, as well as FDIR measures shall support the system resilience objective.
During nominal operations, the CubeSat will simulate conjunctions with virtual space objects, performing both manual and autonomous collision avoidance manoeuvre experiments. High-accuracy GNSS receivers and corner cube reflectors will support spacecraft trackability and enable unambiguous identification within one day of orbit injection. Lastly, position and attitude telemetry will be correlated with ground-based observations to evaluate the satellite’s visual brightness across mission phases.
In addition, the activity provides trade-off analyses related to the ground segment and space surveillance segment resources and degree of automation, evaluates compliance of the mission design with the ESA SDM requirements, and includes a Failure Mode & Effects Analysis as well as an FDIR design. A development roadmap for subsequent mission phases is outlined, including cost, schedule, and risk considerations.
Finally, the project evaluates the commercialization potential of the Zero Debris CubeSat platform. The proposed design offers compatibility with a range of hosted payloads, enabling co-funding opportunities for the IOD mission while supporting future sustainable space operations.