Space debris mitigation and space systems design

The necessity to implement space debris mitigation measures in present and future space systems and missions has been generally identified by all space faring agencies and nations, in the long term, this will lead to noticeable design changes for rocket upper stages and satellites. Technical solutions will have to be found by a dialogue between the debris research groups and the hardware designers taking account of the feasibility, cost and mission limitations of such measures. The paper reviews the fields in which spacecraft design changes would be effective to improve the future debris situation. The classical fields are passivation (i.e, fuel venting, battery discharging etc.) and orbital lifetime limitation (de-orbiting, re-orbiting to disposal orbits etc.). De-orbiting or lifetime-reduction of rocket upper stages can be accomplished by depletion burn, extra retro-thrusters, drag enhancement and electrodynamic tethers. To facilitate lifetime reduction of rocket stages on GTO, time and thrust direction of retro-maneuvers shortly after perigee passage can be considered (trade-off between propellant mass and battery power). The de-orbiting or lifetime reduction of satellites can be accomplished by an existing attitude/orbit control system. Since for circular orbits of 1,300 km and higher the propellant mass fraction for lifetime reduction would become a sensitive cost burden, there is a strong incentive to look into high specific impulse systems as arcjets etc.