Essay Example on The development planning preparation and managing of a device called Elektra

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Senior Space Operations Abstract The following business proposal presents a conceptual research for the development planning preparation and managing of a device called Elektra with the sole purpose to be installed in any payload that goes to outer space initially to Low Earth Orbit and act as a space debris mitigatory when the satellite is approaching to the end of life The earth orbit has become a highly utilized environment The heavy traffic of man made satellites and a history of almost sixty five years of space exploration has led to a large quantities of space debris in LEO Therefore is crucial to develop new solutions and new technologies to mitigate the degradation of our limited resource which is the earth orbit Table of Contents 1 Abstract________________________________________________________ 2 Nomenclature____________________________________________________ 3 Introduction______________________________________________________ 4 Background______________________________________________________ 5 Mission Concept__________________________________________________ A Mission Statement______________________________________________ B Mission Objectives______________________________________________ C Mission and Critical Requirements__________________________________ D Constrains_____________________________________________________ E Risks and Safety________________________________________________ F Policy and Licensing Considerations_________________________________ 6 Key Features System Architecture____________________________________ A Destination____________________________________________________ B Routes Trajectories____________________________________________ C Vehicles______________________________________________________ D Hardware software_____________________________________________ E

Facilities______________________________________________________ F Concept of Operations___________________________________________ G Mass power volume____________________________________________ 7 Analysis_________________________________________________________ 8 Project Management_______________________________________________ 9 Final Statement___________________________________________________ 10 References_________________________________________________________ Nomenclature Abbreviation Definition LEO Low Earth Orbit MEO Medium Earth Orbit GEO geosynchronous orbit 1 Introduction 1 738 is the number of active satellites that is orbiting Low Earth Orbit The cost of production of each satellite may vary from 200 million to 500 million dollars 



The total investment on satellites placed in LEO MEO GEO is billions of dollars As a matter of fact the recent investment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was 11 billion which include a set of four weather satellites through 2035 The space industry is a multibillion venture that is being threatened by approximately 500 000 pieces of space debris travelling at incredible speeds of 7 7 km sec On the other hand there is an increasing concern around the international community in which the normal space operations of those satellites might be in danger and jeopardized by hundreds of thousands of pieces of space debris The race to conquer space between the two superpowers in the 1950s have unleashed an uncontrollable vast number of tons of junk orbiting earth orbit In fact Sputnik which was launched in 1957 almost 61 years ago is still orbiting earth as an inactive satellite The current debris population poses a certain collision probability and a resulting risk of damage to orbiting objects The definition of space debris according to NASA is any man made object in orbit about the Earth which no longer serves a useful function Such debris includes nonfunctional spacecraft abandoned launch vehicle stages mission related debris and fragmentation debris 1 It is important to have into consideration that the earth orbit whether is LEO MEO or GEO is a limited resource The number of launches is increasing year by year and the number of failures is increasing as well as is reflected in the following graph The increase on launches and failures per year is the perfect recipe to generate accidental explosions intentional breakups collisions on orbit and operational debris According to Kessler every satellite space probe and manned mission has the potential to produce space debris

A cascading Kessler syndrome becomes more likely as satellites in orbit increase in number 2 Consequently the future sustainability of space activities is in imminent danger The question is not if the Kessler syndrome is going to happen the right question is when is this going to happen Furthermore it is a matter of time that the space debris mitigation guidelines of the committee of the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space become legally binding among the international community Therefore is crucial during the design phase to any satellite developer to include the add on Elektra on its payloads to guarantee compliance with the UN space debris mitigation guidelines 2 Background National space agencies and international forums such as the Inter Agency Debris Coordination Committee have acknowledged the necessity for prompt action regarding the space debris problem In fact the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs have been working since 1994 in the development of space debris mitigation guidelines Historically the primary sources of space debris in Earth orbits are 



1 Accidental and intentional break ups which produce long lived debris 2 Debris released intentionally during the operation of launch vehicle orbital stages and spacecraft Space debris mitigation measures can be divided into two broad categories Mitigation of harmful space debris in the near term and those that limit their generation over the longer term 3 Industry stakeholders academia spacefaring nations are actively working in ideas and new concepts to develop an effective piece of technology that could mitigate the generation of more space debris In fact concepts of capturing and removal methods it is being researched For example A Capturing methods include Tentacles capturing Single arm capturing Multiple arm capturing Mechanical effector Net capturing Tether gripper mechanism Harpoon mechanism B Removal methods include Drag augmentation system FOAM drag Inflated method Fiber based method C Electrodynamic tethered D Laser system E ESA Robotic Geostationary Orbit Restorer F Removal of Orbital Clutter university Colorado G Elektra 3 References 1 NASA Orbital Debris and Human Spacecraft Retrieve from https www nasa gov mission_pages station news orbital_debris html Accessed January 21 2018 2 Donald J Kessler and Burton G Cour Palais 1978 Collision Frequency of Artificial Satellites The Creation of a Debris Belt Journal of Geophysical Research 83 2637 2646 3 United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space


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