A Study on Debris Removal System Using Laser Pressure from Ground Stations

Abstract

The amount of debris in space is increasing every year, and its effect on satellite missions is worsening. In this research, a method for removing debris using laser radiation pressure from a ground station is proposed. This method does not require a satellite to be launched to remove debris, and the system applied is less likely to be considered as a threat because it is relatively safe even if the laser erroneously irradiates another satellite, because the laser intensity is no more than 108 W/m2. However, the power applied to debris is small, such that it requires a great deal of time and energy to deorbit the debris. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the feasibility of debris removal by laser radiation pressure from the view point of energy consumption and time. In addition, in order to increase feasibility of this method, a sub-optimized laser irradiation method for reducing the time and energy consumption required for removal is proposed. This study addresses how much energy and time is needed for a particular piece of debris to be removed by laser under three parameters: power of the laser, time that the laser is powered, and the location of laser station. By sub-optimizing these parameters, the energy needed to remove a particular piece of space debris within a particular time is minimized. Furthermore, a laser irradiation method for deorbiting multiple pieces of debris using multiple laser stations is discussed. This study contributes to show that the new debris removal method using laser radiation pressure from ground station can effectively and practically remove multiple debris in terms of time and energy cost.