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End of Life operations for disposal of mega‐constellations

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 17:26
Start Date: 
2017
Programme: 
Discovery
End Date: 
2018
Programme Reference: 
15/052
Country: 
Germany
Contractor: 
Airbus Defence & Space
Status: 
Closed
Description: 

The objective of this activity was to understand the operational complexity of large mega-constellation systems, and the potential needs to operate these, including the complexity of collision avoidance manoeuvres (CAMs). This objective was achieved by:

  • Assessing different end-of-life strategies for mega-constellations of the size and complexity as foreseen for the future telecommunications applications.
  • Analysing the implications on space and ground segment design to support execution of end-of-life activities for each of the strategies identified (from the previous bullet), comparing the different ground and spacecraft conceptual architectures.
  • Analysing the execution of both debris and inter-satellite CAMs during LEOP, orbit raising, routine phases and orbit lowering for mega-constellations.
  • Deriving system and operational requirements on mega-constellations for end-of-life activities and space debris mitigation.
  • Establishing a baseline scenario for an operational concept to handle space debris mitigation for mega-constellations.
Application Domain: 
Space Safety
Technology Domain: 
11 - Space Debris
Competence Domain: 
10-Astrodynamics, Space Debris and Space Environment
Keywords: 
Mega Constellations
ADM
End of Life
Operations
Executive summary: 
Final presentation: