Related papers: Orbital Debris-Debris Collision Avoidance
Like any industry, space activities generate pressures on the environment and strives towards more sustainable activities. A consensus among the European industrial stakeholders and national agencies in the Space sector is emerging on the…
We investigate the chance of detecting proto-planetary or debris disks in stars that induce microlensing events (lenses). The modification of the light curves shapes due to occultation and extinction by the disks as well as the additional…
Dynamical interactions between planets and debris discs can excite the orbits of embedded planetesimals to such a degree that a collisional cascade is triggered, generating detectable amounts of dust. Millimetre wavelength observations are…
Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are crucial for communications, navigation, and Earth observation. However, their operational lifetimes are strongly influenced by orbital decay due to atmospheric drag. This work presents a simplified…
Low Earth orbit (LEO) mega-constellations greatly extend the coverage and resilience of future wireless systems. Within the mega-constellations, laser inter-satellite links (LISLs) enable high-capacity, long-range connectivity. Existing…
The computation of the Minimum Orbital Intersection Distance (MOID) is an old, but increasingly relevant problem. Fast and precise methods for MOID computation are needed to select potentially hazardous asteroids from a large catalogue. The…
Space debris larger than 1 cm can damage space instruments and impact Earth. The low-Earth orbits (at heights smaller than 2000 km) and orbits near the geostationary- Earth orbit (at 35786 km height) are especially endangered, because most…
A novel concept for contactless active removal of large space debris is proposed exploiting the use of a high-speed targeted ion beam. The ion beam shepherd spacecraft (IBS) is equipped with an electric propulsion system generating a…
The sky observed by space telescopes in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) can be dominated by stray light from multiple sources including the Earth, Sun and Moon. This stray light presents a significant challenge to missions that aim to make a secure…
With debris larger than 1 cm in size estimated to be over one million, precise cataloging efforts are essential to ensure space operations' safety. Compounding this challenge is the oversubscribed problem, where the sheer volume of space…
The vertical thickness of debris discs is often used as a measure of these systems' dynamical excitation and as clues to the presence of hidden massive perturbers such as planetary embryos. However, this argument could be flawed because the…
Space debris is a major problem for all space-active nations. Adopting high precision measuring techniques will help to produce the reliable and accurate catalogue for space debris and collision avoidance. Laser Ranging is a kind of…
The escalating accumulation of orbital debris threatens the sustainability of space operations, necessitating active removal solutions that overcome the limitations of current fuel-dependent methods. To address this, this study introduces a…
This paper presents a novel approach to the robust design of deflection actions for Near Earth Objects (NEO). In particular, the case of deflection by means of Solar-pumped Laser ablation is studied here in detail. The basic idea behind…
As part of the dynamical analysis carried out within the Horizon 2020 ReDSHIFT project, this work analyzes the possible strategies to guide low altitude satellites towards an atmospheric reentry through an impulsive maneuver. We consider a…
The rapid expansion of advanced low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites in large constellations is positioning space assets as key to the future, enabling global internet access and relay systems for deep space missions. A solution to the…
Proposals for ground-based laser remediation of space debris rely on the creation of appropriately directed ablation-driven impulses to either divert the fragment or drive it into an orbit with a perigee allowing atmospheric capture. For a…
Matter near a gravitational lens galaxy or projected along the line of sight (LOS) can affect strong lensing observables by more than contemporary measurement errors. We simulate lens fields with realistic three-dimensional mass…
High power Earth and orbital-based directed energy (DE) systems pose a potential hazard to Earth orbiting spacecraft. The use of very high power, large aperture DE systems to propel spacecraft is being pursued as the only known, feasible…
The growing density of satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) presents serious challenges to space sustainability, primarily due to the increased risk of in-orbit collisions. Traditional ground-based tracking systems are constrained by latency…