Nebula Public Library

Space debris is mainly constituted by small items which cannot be de-orbited by using specific satellites launched from the Earth due to costs and difficulty in miniaturizing robotic arms or other rigid actuation systems. In a long-period vision, small cleaning satellites, with a size comparable with the debris to remove, can be manufactured in Space. Traditional robotic systems would be extremely expensive and some also would have problems in grabbing objects with undefined shape.

The main objectives of the project are to:
▪ Assess how plastic litter can be detected and quantified with current and future remote sensing tools;
▪ Develop adaptive indices insensible to biases induced by sunglint on satellite radiometric products and indicate the constraints of current satellite missions under various atmospheric and illumination conditions;

The objective of this study was to help define how to maintain and further develop European access to the surface of Mars, the major destination for European exploration, following the most recent approved and developed (or currently in development) missions (ExoMars 2016, ExoMars RSP).

The study takes place in the context of the space environment remediation. Tackling the issue of space debris is becoming more and more critical as it becomes more dangerous for existing and future space missions. Solutions must be found to ensure the security of space missions security and a clean space environment. Laser pressure solutions are considered promising as they only using momentum transfer to perform debris manoeuvres to avoid collisions. This means that no additional debris is generated using this technique.