TeSeR - technology for self-removal - status of a horizon 2020 project to ensure the post-mission-disposal of any future spacecraft

Research output: Journal contributionsConference article in journalResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Philipp Voigt
  • Cornelius Vogt
  • Ralf Schubert
  • Hedley Stokes
  • Craig Underwood
  • Alexandru Cornogolub
  • Malcolm Macdonald
  • Emma Kerr
  • Roger Förstner
  • Alexandra Wander
  • Kostas Konstantinidis
  • Monica Valli
  • Simone Brilli
  • Tobias Lips
  • Laura León Pérez
  • Leonardo Ghizoni
  • Anders Kristensen
  • Jens Frederik Dalsgaard Nielsen
  • Colin McInnes
  • Denis Bensoussan

One major source of new space debris are spacecraft (S/C) that are not removed from orbit after the end of their operational lifetime. Many regulations (e.g. ISO 24113) require the removal of S/C at the end of operation - known as Post-Mission-Disposal (PMD) - with a compliance rate of 90% to ensure that S/C do not become a new source of space debris. An analysis performed by ESA shows that the success rate of PMD in 2013 was in the range of about 50%-60%. The goal of TeSeR (Technology for Self-Removal) is to take the first step towards the development of a cost-efficient, but highly reliable PMD module. This PMD module is to be attached to the S/C on ground and it shall ensure the PMD of the S/C at the end of the operational lifetime. This PMD module shall be scalable and flexible, thus, enabling the PMD of any future S/C in an Earth orbit. Ultimately, the gap between the required 90% PMD success rate and the current success rate can be closed. The technological enhancements and developments required for successful PMD are addressed and analysed in TeSeR. The project's primary aims are to develop, manufacture and test an on-ground prototype of the PMD module, to develop three different removal subsystems (solid propulsion, electro-dynamical systems and deployable structures) for easy plug-in/plug-out implementation to the PMD module. This is the first step to demonstrate the main aspects of such a PMD module and the required main technologies. The technical activities are supported by non-technical tasks, e.g. investigation of legal issues relating to a PMD module, execution of a market study and consideration of this technology as a leverage to advance ISO norms. This double tracked approach ensures that the technological developments are embedded into the needs of the space community right from the start. Up to now the prototypes of the three removal subsystems have been developed, manufactured and tested with a common interface for implementation into the PMD module prototype. The PMD module prototype will be manufactured until summer 2018. Afterwards the removal subsystems will be integrated via the same interface. Airbus is the coordinator (and potential launch customer) of TeSeR. The project is conducted together with 10 notable institutes and companies from all across Europe with experts who have been working in the space debris issue for many years.

Original languageEnglish
JournalProceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC
Volume2018
Issue number10
Number of pages14
ISSN0074-1795
Publication statusPublished - 2018
Externally publishedYes
Event69th International Astronautical Congress - IAC 2018: #InvolvingEveryone - Bremen Exhibition & Conference Center, Bremen, Germany
Duration: 01.10.201805.10.2018
Conference number: 69
https://www.gaussteam.com/69th-international-astronautical-congress-iac/

    Research areas

  • Autonomous, Modular, Post-mission-disposal, Prototype, Space debris, Standardized

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Methoden transdisziplinärer Forschung und Lehre
  2. Molecular analyses and species distribution models indicate cryptic northern mountain refugia for a forestdwelling ground beetle
  3. The spillover effect of mimicry: Being mimicked by one person increases prosocial behavior toward another person
  4. Corrosion behaviour of a nominally high purity Mg ingot produced by permanent mould direct chill casting
  5. Diagrammatische Visualisierung als ästhetische Information
  6. Flucht und Migration
  7. The influence of Reputation on Travel Decisions in the Internet
  8. Accounting for work conditions from modern slavery to decent work
  9. Unternehmerpersönlichkeit
  10. Einen Systemwandel brauchen wir nicht
  11. Sprachlerntagebuch
  12. Genetic erosion in habitat specialist shows need to protect large peat bogs
  13. Vom Sinn des Erzählens
  14. Management of Biodiversity in Protected Areas with Sustainability Control
  15. Theosophie
  16. Distribution and community structure of araneocoenoses (Araneae) along an altitudinal gradient on Kozuf Mountain (North Macedonia)
  17. The expression of non-alignment in British and German political interviews
  18. Are private banks the better banks?
  19. Form
  20. Elia, ein feuriger Kämpfer für Gott
  21. Evaluation und Evaluationsforschung
  22. Evidence for climatic changes around the Matuyama-Brunhes Boundary (MBB) inferred from a multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental study of the GBY#2 core, Jordan River Valley, Israel
  23. Loving the mess
  24. Aufsätze im SMS-Stil?
  25. Einleitung
  26. Walter Benjamin
  27. E/Z isomerism without a double bond - An unusual type of stereoisomerism, and an unprecedented isomerisation in a bicyclobutane
  28. Cost-Effectiveness and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Maintenance Measures for Open Landscapes
  29. Mehr Strategie wagen