Capturing orbital debris : a modular mission architecture and optimization
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Authors
Woeppel, Eric
Issue Date
2015-05
Type
Electronic thesis
Thesis
Thesis
Language
ENG
Keywords
Aerospace engineering
Alternative Title
Abstract
In the near-Earth space environment, orbital debris is becoming a larger concern as the space in commercial, defense, and scientific orbits become more crowded. These objects often provide security concerns for newly launched satellites and those currently in operation. The interest of this paper is to analyze the state of the debris clouds, propose an optimized set of requirements for a modular based design, and to present the incentive for removal of dead objects. The analysis for this research was done in MATLAB using two line element datasets for orbital propagation, engineering optimization algorithms, and historical design attempts. The end goal being to show the advantages of modular, reusable infrastructure that is capable of rendezvousing with and disposing of multiple objects of interest.
Description
May 2015
School of Engineering
School of Engineering
Full Citation
Publisher
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY