Mark Wolfson (Lockheed Martin)
Keywords: Orbital Debris, Debris Removal, Neutral Particle Beam
Abstract:
The need for active orbital debris remediation has increasingly gained acceptance throughout the space community throughout the last decade as the threat to our assets has also increased. While there have been a wide variety of conceptual solutions proposed, a debris removal system has yet to be put in place. The challenges that stand in the way of action are formidable and range from technical to political to economic. The AMORE concept is a nascent technique that has the potential to address these challenges and bring active debris remediation into reality. It uses an on-orbit low energy neutral particle beam (~10 keV, TBD) to impart momentum onto medium (5mm ? 10 cm) debris objects in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), thereby reducing their kinetic energy and expediting their reentry. The advantage of this technique over other proposed concepts is that it does not require delta-V intensive rendezvous, has an effective range that allows daily access to hundreds of debris objects, and does not create policy concerns over violation of international treaties. In essence, AMORE would be a medium-sized high power satellite with one or more particle beams fed by a large propellant tank, and an on-board tracking sensor that provides beam control. The particle beam would be similar to existing Xenon Hall Effect thrusters being used today, with the addition of a beam lens that would focus and aim the beam. The primary technical challenge of this concept is the focusing, pointing, and closed loop control of the beam that is necessary to maintain effective momentum transfer at ranges up to 100 km. This effective range is critical in order to maximize daily access to debris objects. Even in the densely populated 800 km debris band, it can be expected that a single AMORE system would be within 100 km of a debris object less than an hour a day. Space is big, and range is critical for timely, cost effective debris removal. Initial analysis indicates that a single AMORE vehicle operating in the 800 km regime could lower the perigee of 100 pieces of 1 kg debris to a 25 year reentry orbit annually. The actual performance of a system would be highly dependent on the debris regime. An operational AMORE system would likely involve several vehicles operating autonomously for continuous mitigation of existing and future debris.
Date of Conference: September 9-12, 2014
Track: Poster