Abstract
Abstract The increase in space debris orbiting Earth is a critical problem for future space missions. Space debris removal has thus become an area of interest, and significant research progress is being made in this field. However, the exorbitant cost of space debris removal missions is a major concern for commercial space companies. We therefore propose the debris removal using electromagnetic launcher (DREL) system, a ground-based electromagnetic launch system (railgun), for space debris removal missions. The DREL system has three components: a ground-based electromagnetic launcher (GEML), suborbital vehicle (SOV), and mass of micrometer-scale dust (MSD) particles. The average cost of removing a piece of low-earth orbit space debris using DREL was found to be approximately USD 160,000. The DREL method is thus shown to be economical; the total cost to remove more than 2,000 pieces of debris in a cluster was only approximately USD 400 million, compared to the millions of dollars required to remove just one or two pieces of debris using a conventional space debris removal mission. By using DREL, the cost of entering space is negligible, thereby enabling countries to remove their space debris in an affordable manner.
Highlights
The risk of hypervelocity spacecraft collisions and space waste increases with the quantity of space debris orbiting Earth
Space debris removal has become an area of interest, and significant research progress is being made in this field
The problem of debris in space cannot be adequately addressed until the technology facilitating debris removal becomes more affordable
Summary
The risk of hypervelocity spacecraft collisions and space waste increases with the quantity of space debris orbiting Earth. There are currently approximately 900,000 pieces of space debris between 1 and 10 cm in size and 34,000 pieces larger than 10 cm. The quantity of space debris will increase without additional input due to ongoing debris–debris collisions. Several companies consider space debris removal to be a business opportunity, and governments across the world are being urged to initiate measures to solve the problem. Several space-faring nations have identified practical solutions to removing their own space debris. Conceptual designs, and demonstration tests of space debris removal technologies have been produced, including contact and non-contact methods
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