Study of a harpoon with a foam injection system for debris mitigation.
- Paper number
IAC-14,A6,P,24,x21347
- Author
Mr. Idriss Sisaid, Cranfield University, France
- Year
2014
- Abstract
Space debris such as dead satellites or used rocket stages orbiting our planet are becoming a huge problem that needs to be solved in order to avoid unexpected collisions in the future. One solution to mitigate that risk is to regularly deorbit major debris using a deorbiting spacecraft that would rendezvous and dock using a harpoon system before towing it towards a burn in the atmosphere. However this technology is a one-shot device and therefore several measures have to be undertaken to make sure the docking an the towing phases are properly done. It is proposed to study in this paper, a hybrid system that is composed of a regular harpoon and a foam injection system. Once the harpoon is deployed in the debris, a large quantity of highly expansible foam is injected to strenghten the zone that will transmit the forces. The presentation will study the configuration while giving advantages and limitations of such a technology.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)