FEASIBILITY STUDY OF ELECTRODYNAMIC TETHER TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION ON H-II TRANSFER VEHICLE

摘要

Space debris has been steadily increasing. Cascadingrneffect caused by the collision between the objects wouldrnworsen the situation further. To ensure the safety ofrnfuture space activities, aggressive measures to reducerndebris is needed. Since density of debris in the region ofrn800 km to 1500 km altitude is particularly high, thernoccurrence of cascade event can be a major obstacle forrnactivities in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). To avoid thisrnsituation, JAXA is investigating a service system torncapture a defunct satellite and remove it from thisrn"crowded" orbit to waste orbit. Conventional propulsionrnsystem, which requires much propellant, is inefficientrnfor this application. JAXA has been investigating to usernof ElectroDynamic Tether (EDT) propulsion system. Byrnusing the interaction with the Earth magnetic field, EDTrncan generate a sufficient thrust for orbit transfer over arnrealistic time period. JAXA is now investigating torndemonstrate EDT technology on-orbit and H-II TransferrnVehicle (HTV), JAXA's unmanned cargo transferrnspacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), is arnpotential candidate of hosted vehicle. This paper willrnpresent HTV’s active deorbit design in first, and alsornpresent result of feasibility study of JAXA’s first attemprnof EDT on-orbit demonstration on the HTV.