A preliminary design procedure for an ion-beam shepherd mission

Abstract

The “ion-beam shepherd” (IBS) is a contactless active space debris removal technique, also applicable to asteroid deflection. In the design of an IBS mission many constraints need to be considered, which involve multiple trade-offs. These constraints can be expressed analytically as a function of certain design parameters, and conveniently displayed in a two-dimensional parameter space or design space. This construction yields a “matching chart”, which effectively provides a feasible design envelope, and enables to find graphically a suitable design point that satisfies all applicable operational constraints simultaneously, thus providing a powerful tool tailored for the preliminary design of an IBS mission.