Session
Swifty Session 1
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
Today’s world of space’s primary concern is the uncontrolled growth of space debris and its probability of collision with spacecraft, particularly in the low earth orbit (LEO) regions. To prevent space debris growth, measures need to be taken so that there will be a debris depletion to conserve the LEO space environment and ease the risk of collision. This concern has developed the concept of Active Debris Removal (ADR). ADR method is an effective means for the removal of space debris using an active system. One of the ADR methods that have been continuously developed over a couple of decades is Space robotics whose function is to chase, capture and de-orbit the space junk. Our designed debris chaser satellite with dual robotic manipulators is made of a commercially available product of the market with an RCS thruster for the operation of orbit transfer, rendezvous, and close proximity operation and extra miniaturized cold gas thrusters for de-orbiting the polar orbit debris. Once reaching nearby to the PSLV debris, the robotic manipulators will be used to capture and cease the motion of the PSLV debris, and an extra cold gas thruster will be attached rigidly to the PSLV body using manipulators. Once, the attachment procedure is done, then de-orbiting to the altitude of 250 km will be done and the debris chase satellite will go on a search for other nearby debris. This paper is aimed to design an optimized micro-propulsion system, Cold Gas Thruster, to deorbit the PSLV debris from 668km to 250 km height after capturing process. The propulsion system mainly consists of a storage tank, pipes, control valves, and a convergent-divergent nozzle. The paper gives an idea of the design of each component based on a continuous iterative process until the design thrust requirements are met. All the components are designed in the CATIA V5, and the structural analysis is done in the ANSYS tool for each component where our cylinder tank can withstand the high hoop stress generated on its wall of it. And flow analysis is done by using the K-ε turbulence model for the CD nozzle, which provides the required thrust to de-orbit PSLV from a higher orbit to a lower orbit, after which the air drag will be enough to bring back to earth’s atmosphere and burn it. Hohmann’s orbit transfer method has been used to de-orbit the PSLV space debris, and it has been simulated by STK tools. And the result shows that our optimized designed thruster generates enough thrust to de-orbit the PSLV debris to a very low orbit.
Design and Analysis of Cold Gas Thruster to De-Orbit the PSLV Debris
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Today’s world of space’s primary concern is the uncontrolled growth of space debris and its probability of collision with spacecraft, particularly in the low earth orbit (LEO) regions. To prevent space debris growth, measures need to be taken so that there will be a debris depletion to conserve the LEO space environment and ease the risk of collision. This concern has developed the concept of Active Debris Removal (ADR). ADR method is an effective means for the removal of space debris using an active system. One of the ADR methods that have been continuously developed over a couple of decades is Space robotics whose function is to chase, capture and de-orbit the space junk. Our designed debris chaser satellite with dual robotic manipulators is made of a commercially available product of the market with an RCS thruster for the operation of orbit transfer, rendezvous, and close proximity operation and extra miniaturized cold gas thrusters for de-orbiting the polar orbit debris. Once reaching nearby to the PSLV debris, the robotic manipulators will be used to capture and cease the motion of the PSLV debris, and an extra cold gas thruster will be attached rigidly to the PSLV body using manipulators. Once, the attachment procedure is done, then de-orbiting to the altitude of 250 km will be done and the debris chase satellite will go on a search for other nearby debris. This paper is aimed to design an optimized micro-propulsion system, Cold Gas Thruster, to deorbit the PSLV debris from 668km to 250 km height after capturing process. The propulsion system mainly consists of a storage tank, pipes, control valves, and a convergent-divergent nozzle. The paper gives an idea of the design of each component based on a continuous iterative process until the design thrust requirements are met. All the components are designed in the CATIA V5, and the structural analysis is done in the ANSYS tool for each component where our cylinder tank can withstand the high hoop stress generated on its wall of it. And flow analysis is done by using the K-ε turbulence model for the CD nozzle, which provides the required thrust to de-orbit PSLV from a higher orbit to a lower orbit, after which the air drag will be enough to bring back to earth’s atmosphere and burn it. Hohmann’s orbit transfer method has been used to de-orbit the PSLV space debris, and it has been simulated by STK tools. And the result shows that our optimized designed thruster generates enough thrust to de-orbit the PSLV debris to a very low orbit.
