Tethered towing of defunct satellites with solar panels

Abstract

Space debris is becoming an increasingly serious threat to human space activities. Active debris removal by connecting a space tug to debris by means of tethers is one of the promising techniques to constrain the debris population. Connection between the tether and the debris is preferred to be realized by tether net, since the tether net have multiple attachment points on the debris, which can damp debris' rotations passively. However, the computation of contact dynamics is very complicated and time-consuming for tether net, especially when the debris is a defunct satellite with solar panels. In this study, a tethered towing system which incorporates the flexibility of solar panels and, in the meantime, has multiple fixed attachment points is proposed. Equations of motion are obtained via Kane's method, and dynamical behaviors are discussed. Numerical results verify the validity of the proposed system, and find that the flexibility of the solar panels improves the passive rotation damping ability of the towing system.