De-orbiting space debris via interaction between a permanent magnet and Earth’s magnetic field: A feasibility study

Abstract

The accumulation of space debris is an ever-increasing problem. Systems that can reliably de-orbit (i.e., decrease the time to re-entry for) an inactive resident space object (RSO) are highly sought after. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of utilizing the forces owing to the interaction of Earth’s magnetic field with a permanent magnet that has been attached to an RSO in low Earth orbit. We consider an actively controlled permanent magnet that is optimally oriented to remove energy from the system, and the most favorable magnet-to-RSO mass ratio. We show that, even under these best-case assumptions, the interaction between a permanent magnet and Earth’s magnetic field is not a viable means of de-orbiting an RSO.