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: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=714115
• 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.

在过去60年中，人类活动中的碎片堆积已成为一个关键问题，尤其是在非常商业的低地轨道（LEO）中。人们普遍认为，如果人类要继续对近地球空间进行可持续剥削，则必须解决这种情况。这种承认刺激了有关减少空间碎片生长并补充太空环境的强烈研究。我建议提高现有解决方案的技术准备水平，促进我们的理解并开发新的方法，以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清除主动碎屑。现在，每年需要清除五到十个大碎屑物体的需求，现在有广泛的共识；然而，就这样的任务提供了最佳技术，尚无协议。基于我先前关于使用束缚网以捕获大空间碎片的研究，我将通过开发和评估净结束方法来进一步推进束缚网络解决方案，以确保碎屑遏制；通过调查捕获后系统稳定的策略；并通过实验证明碎屑捕获的束缚网络概念。对于随后的任务阶段，我建议通过摇摆和旋转来调查绑带辅助的概念 - 将碎屑刹车到地球的下降中，以研究束缚的概念 - 气氛。我的第二个研究重点属于碎屑环境的太空情境意识的保护。在这个广泛的领域中，我将致力于提高我们的理解和推进大型空间碎片运动的预测能力，重点是它们的旋转运动。这项研究将回答基本问题：将来的碎片将在哪里，它将如何旋转？由于碎屑无法控制地翻滚，因此它们的态度对轨道上经历的扰动力和扭矩具有时间变化，例如空气动力学阻力和太阳辐射压力。这些反过来直接影响碎屑的轨道和位置。我们将努力扩展我们对当前扰动效应模型中的不确定性如何影响传播中的不确定性的理解，并制定随机模型以量化这些效果。我们将与我们的预测模型共同探讨观察数据的使用，以制定参数，扰动和碎屑态度运动的估计算法。 加拿大是一个太空之国：它推出卫星，加拿大人民依靠我们的太空资产来可靠地运作他们的终生。鉴于空间碎片对功能性资产的威胁，至关重要的是，我们有专业知识是参与未来的碎片清除任务，以及预测碎屑对太空环境的影响的知识和工具。