RemoveDebris – Mission Analysis for a Low Cost Active Debris Removal Demonstration in 2016

Contracted by the European Commission in the frame of the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7), a wide European consortium has been working since 2013 towards the design of a low cost in-orbit demonstration called RemoveDEBRIS. With a targeted launch date in the second quarter of 2016, the RemoveDEBRIS mission aims at demonstrating key Active Debris Removal (ADR) technologies, including capture means (net and harpoon firing on a distant target), relative navigation techniques (vision-based navigation sensors and associated algorithms), and deorbiting technologies (drag sail deployment after the mission followed by an uncontrolled reentry). In order to achieve these objectives, a micro satellite testbed will be launched into a Low Earth Orbit, where it will deploy its own dedicated targets and CubeSats to complete each demonstration. As part of its System Engineering role, Airbus Defence and Space has been conducting the Mission Analysis studies for this unprecedented mission. This paper will present a description of the RemoveDEBRIS demonstration objectives and scenario and will present in detail some specific mission related analyses and trade-offs that have driven the mission design.