The RemoveDebris ADR Mission: Preparing for an International Space Station Launch

International audienceSince the beginning of the space era, a significant amount of debris has progressively been generated in space. Active Debris Removal (ADR) missions have been suggested as a way of limiting and controlling future growth in orbital space debris by actively sending up vehicles to remove debris. The EC FP7 RemoveDebris mission, which started in 2013, draws on the expertise of some of Europe's most prominent space institutions in order to demonstrate key ADR technologies in a low-cost ambitious manner. The RemoveDebris mission launches to the International Space Station (ISS) in late 2017 where shortly after it will be deployed via the NanoRacks Kaber system into an orbit of around 400 km. The mission will perform its core demonstrations sequentially, utilising two CubeSats as artificial debris targets: net capture, harpoon capture, vision-based navigation , dragsail de-orbiting. The mission comes to an end in 2018 with all space entities having naturally de-orbited. This paper is split into the following parts: (a) an overview of the mission segments, (b) a discussion on launch procedures, (c) an overview of the operations sequence and demonstration timelines. The second section will focus on the specifics of the launch via NanoRacks and respective the NASA safety reviews. The third section will outline the planned operational timelines for the payloads. There will be a focus on what demonstrations will be performed and what types of data will be collected. The RemoveDebris mission aims to be one of the world's first in-orbit demonstrations of key technologies for active debris removal and is a vital prerequisite to achieving the ultimate goal of a cleaner Earth orbital environment

The RemoveDebris ADR Mission: Preparing for an International Space Station Launch

International audienceSince the beginning of the space era, a significant amount of debris has progressively been generated in space. Active Debris Removal (ADR) missions have been suggested as a way of limiting and controlling future growth in orbital space debris by actively sending up vehicles to remove debris. The EC FP7 RemoveDebris mission, which started in 2013, draws on the expertise of some of Europe's most prominent space institutions in order to demonstrate key ADR technologies in a low-cost ambitious manner. The RemoveDebris mission launches to the International Space Station (ISS) in late 2017 where shortly after it will be deployed via the NanoRacks Kaber system into an orbit of around 400 km. The mission will perform its core demonstrations sequentially, utilising two CubeSats as artificial debris targets: net capture, harpoon capture, vision-based navigation , dragsail de-orbiting. The mission comes to an end in 2018 with all space entities having naturally de-orbited. This paper is split into the following parts: (a) an overview of the mission segments, (b) a discussion on launch procedures, (c) an overview of the operations sequence and demonstration timelines. The second section will focus on the specifics of the launch via NanoRacks and respective the NASA safety reviews. The third section will outline the planned operational timelines for the payloads. There will be a focus on what demonstrations will be performed and what types of data will be collected. The RemoveDebris mission aims to be one of the world's first in-orbit demonstrations of key technologies for active debris removal and is a vital prerequisite to achieving the ultimate goal of a cleaner Earth orbital environment

Review of Final Payload Test Results for the RemoveDebris Active Debris Removal Mission

International audienceSince the beginning of the space era, a huge amount of debris has progressively been generated in space. Active Debris Removal (ADR) missions have been suggested as a way of limiting and controlling future growth in orbital space debris by actively sending up vehicles to remove debris. The EC FP7 RemoveDebris mission, which started in 2013, draws on the expertise of some of Europe's most prominent space institutions in order to demonstrate key ADR technologies in a low-cost ambitious manner: net capture, harpoon capture, vision-based navigation, dragsail de-orbiting. This paper provides a review of final payload test results before launch. A comprehensive test campaign is underway on both payloads and platform. The tests aim to demonstrate both functional success of the experiments and that the experiments can survive the space environment. Space environmental tests (EVT) include vibration, thermal, vacuum or thermal-vacuum (TVAC) and in some cases EMC and shock. The test flow differs for each payload and depends on the heritage of the constituent payload parts. The paper will also provide an update to the launch, expected in 2017 from the International Space Station (ISS), and test philosophy that has been influenced from the launch and prerequisite NASA safety review for the mission. The RemoveDebris mission aims to be one of the world's first in-orbit demonstrations of key technologies for active debris removal and is a vital prerequisite to achieving the ultimate goal of a cleaner Earth orbital environment

Review of Final Payload Test Results for the RemoveDebris Active Debris Removal Mission

International audienceSince the beginning of the space era, a huge amount of debris has progressively been generated in space. Active Debris Removal (ADR) missions have been suggested as a way of limiting and controlling future growth in orbital space debris by actively sending up vehicles to remove debris. The EC FP7 RemoveDebris mission, which started in 2013, draws on the expertise of some of Europe's most prominent space institutions in order to demonstrate key ADR technologies in a low-cost ambitious manner: net capture, harpoon capture, vision-based navigation, dragsail de-orbiting. This paper provides a review of final payload test results before launch. A comprehensive test campaign is underway on both payloads and platform. The tests aim to demonstrate both functional success of the experiments and that the experiments can survive the space environment. Space environmental tests (EVT) include vibration, thermal, vacuum or thermal-vacuum (TVAC) and in some cases EMC and shock. The test flow differs for each payload and depends on the heritage of the constituent payload parts. The paper will also provide an update to the launch, expected in 2017 from the International Space Station (ISS), and test philosophy that has been influenced from the launch and prerequisite NASA safety review for the mission. The RemoveDebris mission aims to be one of the world's first in-orbit demonstrations of key technologies for active debris removal and is a vital prerequisite to achieving the ultimate goal of a cleaner Earth orbital environment

The active space debris removal mission RemoveDebris. Part 1: from concept to launch

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The RemoveDebris ADR Mission: Launch from the ISS, Operations and Experimental Timelines

International audienceThe EC FP7 RemoveDebris mission aims to be one of the world's first Active Debris Removal (ADR) missions to demonstrate key technologies in-orbit in a cost-effective ambitious manner, including: net capture, harpoon capture, vision-based navigation, dragsail de-orbitation. The mission will utilise two CubeSats as artificial debris targets to demonstrate the technologies. In early 2018, the main 100 kg satellite will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) where it will be deployed via the NanoRacks Kaber system into an orbit of around 400 km. The mission comes to an end in 2018 with all space entities having been de-orbited. Previous papers have outlined the mission architecture and design, the demonstrations, and the test campaign. This paper continues by initially overviewing the pre-flight final configuration of the payloads and platform. The second section will focus on the specifics of the launch via Space X / NanoRacks, and compliance to the NASA safety reviews. As the satellite is being transported to the ISS as cargo, it will require manipulation by astronauts to ready it for deployment. The final section will detail the planned operational timeline, including the timeframe for the experiments, an overview of the operational sequences to be performed and the desired mission results. Future mega-satellite constellations are now being proposed, where hundreds to thousands of satellites are being launched into orbit. A coherent strategy, along with technological and platform developments, is needed for de-orbiting, re-orbiting, or servicing of such constellations. The RemoveDebris mission is a vital prerequisite to achieving the ultimate goal of a cleaner Earth orbital environment, and is a core step in the development of active removal vehicles, or on-orbit servicing vehicles of the future

RemoveDebris Preliminary Mission Results

International audienceThe EC FP7 RemoveDebris mission aims to be one of the world’s first Active Debris Removal (ADR) missions to demonstrate key technologies in-orbit in a cost effective ambitious manner, including: net capture, harpoon capture, vision-based navigation, dragsail de-orbitation. RemoveDebris is a low-cost mission funded jointly by the European Commission (EU) and 10 partners: the University of Surrey (UK), Airbus (France, Germany, UK); Ariane Group (France); Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, (UK); Innovative Solutions In Space (Netherlands); CSEM (Switzerland); Inria (France); Stellenbosch University (South Africa). The mission will utilise two CubeSats as artificial debris targets to demonstrate the technologies. In early 2018, the main 100-kg satellite was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) and deployed via the NanoRacks Kaber system into an orbit of around 400 km. The mission comes to an end in early 2019 with all space entities having been de-orbited.This paper reports on the LEOP and commissioning phase of the mission in preparation for experimental tests due to begin end of 2018

Remove Debris Mission, From Concept to Orbit

International audienceThe RemoveDebris mission will be the first European Active Debris Removal (ADR) missions to give an in orbit demonstration of the viability of a series of cost effective technologies that can be used to observe, capture and destroy space debris. RemoveDebris is a low cost mission performing key active debris removal (ADR) technology demonstrations including the use of a net, a harpoon, vision-based navigation (VBN) and a dragsail in a realistic space operational environment. For the purposes of the mission two CubeSats will be ejected and used as targets for experiments instead of real space debris, which is an important step towards a fully operational ADR mission

Final payload test results for the RemoveDebris active debris removal mission

International audienceSince the beginning of the space era, a significant amount of debris has progressively been generated in space. Active Debris Removal (ADR) missions have been suggested as a way of limiting and controlling future growth in orbital space debris by actively deploying vehicles to remove debris. The European Commission FP7-sponsored RemoveDebris mission, which started in 2013, draws on the expertise of some of Europe's most prominent space institutions in order to demonstrate key ADR technologies in a cost effective ambitious manner: net capture, harpoon capture, vision-based navigation, dragsail de-orbiting.This paper provides an overview of some of the final payload test results before launch. A comprehensive test campaign is underway on both payloads and platform. The tests aim to demonstrate both functional success of the experiments and that the experiments can survive the space environment. Space environmental tests (EVT) include vibration, thermal, vacuum or thermal-vacuum (TVAC) and in some cases EMC and shock. The test flow differs for each payload and depends on the heritage of the constituent payload parts. The paper will also provide an update to the launch, expected in 2017 from the International Space Station (ISS), and test philosophy that has been influenced from the launch and prerequisite NASA safety review for the mission.The RemoveDebris mission aims to be one of the world's first in-orbit demonstrations of key technologies for active debris removal and is a vital prerequisite to achieving the ultimate goal of a cleaner Earth orbital environment