e.Deorbit was a planned
European Space Agency active
space debris removal mission developed as a part of their Clean Space initiative.
The launch was planned for 2025 on board a
Vega
Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, a ...
launch vehicle.
Funding of the mission was stopped in 2018 in favor of the
ClearSpace-1 mission, which is now under development.
Overview
A spacecraft was to be launched on board a
Vega
Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, a ...
rocket into a
polar orbit
A polar orbit is one in which a satellite passes above or nearly above both poles of the body being orbited (usually a planet such as the Earth, but possibly another body such as the Moon or Sun) on each revolution. It has an inclination of about ...
at an altitude of . Once on orbit, the spacecraft would
rendezvous with the derelict satellite
Envisat which is in an unknown condition, inoperative, and probably tumbling.
Capture would be conducted in one of two ways: either by using mechanical tentacles or nets. The tentacles option included equipping the spacecraft with robotic arms, one of which will first capture a holding point, before the remaining arms embrace the derelict and secure it with a clamping mechanism. The net option included equipping the spacecraft with a deployable net on a tether, that will envelop the target derelict before the spacecraft will begin changing orbit.
The net option has the advantage of being able to capture objects with a wide range of sizes and spins.
After successfully capturing the targeted derelict, the spacecraft would deorbit itself by performing a controlled
atmospheric reentry.
History
The mission was developed at ESA's
Concurrent Design Facility
The Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) is the European Space Agency main assessment center for future space missions and industrial review. Located at ESTEC, ESA's technical center in Noordwijk in The Netherlands, it has been operational since early ...
, with studies for the Clean Space programme on de-orbiting techniques being carried out in 2009.
The first symposium about the mission took place in May 2014.
Early testing included successful attempts at capturing scale model satellites by shooting nets from compressed air ejectors.
The first design stage was completed in June 2015, with a systems requirements review being conducted in May–June 2016 and a final mission approval taking place in December 2016.
See also
*
RemoveDEBRIS, a similar concept that combined four experiments for future Active Debris Removal technology: a net, a harpoon, a Vision-Based Navigation (VBN) system and a dragsail.
*
ClearSpace One, the follow-up of e.Deorbit: a mission that uses e.Deorbit's tentacles option to capture the Vega Secondary Payload Adapter from 2013
Vega flight VV02
Vega flight VV02 was the second flight of the Vega launcher. It occurred from the Guiana Space Centre on 7 May 2013 at 02:06:31UTC.
Payload
The flight was a multi-payload mission that deployed 3 satellites (2 Earth observation satellites and ...
for de-orbiting.
ESA commissions world’s first space debris removal
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References
External links
ESA Clean Space
website
Space debris removal mission
ESA illustration
Interview with Robin Biesbroek
e.Deorbit study manager
{{European Space Agency
Space debris
Proposed European Space Agency spacecraft
2025 in spaceflight