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Resulting from an ever increasing public pressure, the quest to be environmentally friendly is transforming the competitive landscape, as eco-friendly design results in a new frontier of innovation. As a public sector intergovernmental organisation, ESA is committed to prioritising environmental concerns in all its activities. Through its Clean Space initiative, the Agency is pioneering an eco-friendly approach to space activities.

The Thales Alenia Space study team completed a 13 month contract to study the feasibility of Active Debris Removal within mega-constellations. Within the Clean Space initiative, ESA searches for proactive answers to the environmental challenges which are faced both on Earth and in space. The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) has already highlighted the important topic of mega-constellations, which represent a step change in the future space environment due to the proliferation of small satellites.

XIPE is designed to be launched with a VEGA-C vehicle into an orbit of 550 km and <6° inclination. With this orbit, eclipses last about 35 minutes. Due to remaining spacecraft fragments the mission is planned to end by controlled re-entry. The baseline ground station is Kourou either for S/S or S/X telemetry band, albeit Malindi (or Singapore) is additionally available, if necessary, for additional downloading capability in case of particularly bright sources. The mission duration is 3+2 years.

In the future, satellites will have to demonstrate compliance with debris mitigation requirements, covering re-entry or parking graveyard orbits and passivation. Nevertheless, during the mission, a failure could occur without any possibility to manoeuvre the satellite and achieving its compliance to the Space Debris Mitigation requirements. Therefore to anticipate the need to use ADR for deorbiting (or reorbiting) the satellite, it is interesting to evaluate the implication of adapting the satellites and launcher upper stage to support a future ADR mission.