Abstract
The geostationary orbit is now in use for nearly 40 years. Due to the absence of major energy dissipating mechanisms, the object population in the GEO environment steadily grew during this time. Currently, a total of 934 known objects permanently resides within the GEO region, if GEO objects are defined by a mean motion between 0.9 and 1.1 (corresponding to GEO ± 2800 km) and an inclination below 20°. Additionally, two explosion events are confirmed within the geostationary ring, which further enlarge the already existing population consisting of payloads and upper stages. Recent observation results obtained by the ESA Space Debris Telescope (SDT) at Tenerife show strong indications for even more fragment clouds. Since the geostationary ring can be seen as a unique resource, which is not protected by any significant self-cleaning effect, a monitoring of the object environment in the vicinity of this orbit is mandatory. In a first step, this paper characterizes the history and current state of the GEO environment. Besides to explosion prevention, the transfer of satellites to a graveyard orbit about 300 km above the geostationary altitude is the most effective means to preserve GEO. Although this procedure is internationally recommended, only about 20% of the retiring spacecraft is currently brought to a sufficiently high orbit. Another 40% performs a re-orbiting, but is ending up in an orbit in the direct vicinity of the GEO ring or even touching or crossing it. In the future, one possibility to mitigate the population growth could be a dedicated vehicle transferring several large objects to the graveyard area at end of mission. Assuming a future traffic model and different scenarios for re-orbiting and removal, the future evolution of the large object population in and near GEO is assessed.
Published Version
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