Space debris removal – Review of technologies and techniques. Rigid coupling between space debris and service spacecraft

Abstract

Since the late 1950s, as the mankind has been exploring space, the amount of space debris (spacecraft not removed from the orbit at the end of their service life, upper stages, as well as the fragments of spacecraft and upper stages formed as a result of deliberate or accidental collision of spacecraft and upper stages with each other or with natural space debris (meteorites)) with poorly predictable masses and velocities has created a global spacecraft safety problem.

Various countries conducting space research have adopted special standards and guidelines for space debris mitigation, which require a spacecraft to be transferred to a disposal orbit at the end of its operation. For various reasons, they are not always implemented in practice.

This paper is a continuation of the previous study conducted to systematize methods developed for debris removal from the near-Earth space up to date. It presents a set of technologies that can be used to transfer space debris to a graveyard orbit using a rigid coupling between space debris and service spacecraft.