Abstract
Space debris has become a growing problem, and various studies indicate that the population of space objects has reached a critical density in low Earth orbits (LEO). Therefore, removing debris from the LEO is key to stabilizing the growth of space objects and making some of the orbits reusable for future launches. Deorbiting larger debris objects using miniaturized satellites, CubeSats is both economically viable and requires relatively less time for design & deployment. In this paper, we present a system-level study of orbital debris removal from LEO using CubeSats, detailing various existing debris tracking, rendezvous, capture, and deorbit mechanisms. A deep learning-based object detection algorithm has been utilized to improve the accuracy of detecting and localizing debris. We also present a discussion on the CubeSat-compatible capture & deorbit mechanisms identified from our study and an upper bound on the debris mass that can be deorbited from a given LEO orbit using CubeSats. We aim to demonstrate a case study for the orbital decay analysis of a CubeSat deorbiting the XSat, a microsatellite launched by Singapore. We detail the design of a 27U CubeSat deorbiter prototype equipped with a pair of robotic arms to capture the XSat. This analysis considers active deorbiting using Hall-effect thrusters, for which the required delta-V & propellant mass have also been computed.
Published Version
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