Abstract The prudence for satellites to have a mitigation or deorbiting strategy has been brought about by the ever increasing amount of debris in Earth orbit. Drag augmentation is a potentially passive method for de-orbiting in LEO but its collision risk mitigation efficiency is sometimes underestimated by not taking all the relevant factors into account. This paper shows that using drag augmentation from a deployable drag-sail to de-orbit a satellite in LEO will lead to a reduction in collision risk. In order to support this finding, the models that are needed in order to evaluate the collision risk of a decaying object under drag conditions are presented. A comparison is performed between the simpler Area-Time-Product (ATP) and more precise collision risk analysis, and the effects that are overlooked in the simple ATP calculation are explained.
Highlights We show that a deployable sail can be used to deorbit a satellite in order to comply with Space Debris Mitigation guidelines. The nature of collisions between a host satellite with a drag-sail and potential debris objects is assessed. It is shown that deorbiting using a drag-sail leads to a reduction in collision risk.
Drag sails for space debris mitigation
Acta Astronautica ; 109 ; 65-75
2014-12-21
11 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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