Key issues of creating the inflatable braking devices for removal of the failed satellites into the atmosphere dense layers Part 1. Conceptual design. Motion in the rarefied atmosphere

Abstract

Development of the near-Earth space is accompanied by space debris appearing in the near-Earth orbits and consisting of artificial satellites, elements of other spacecraft, launch vehicles and upper stages with the exhausted resource. High activity of enthusiasts creating nanosatellites of the CubeSat class forces to make gloomy forecasts of space pollution. To clean the near-Earth space from debris, a variety of projects is proposed that provide for collection of the already accumulated debris and equipping the new generation of rocket and space systems with means for transferring to the burial orbits or into the atmosphere dense layers. Promising means of eliminating space debris include inflatable braking devices designed to transfer the fastened objects into the atmosphere dense layers. The braking device temperature state is formed under the influence of thermal radiation flows from the Sun and the Earth and kinetic heating caused by motion in the rarefied atmosphere. The paper considers options of the conceptual design of an inflatable braking device for nanosatellites of the CubeSat class positioned in the low Earth orbits. Results are provided of simulating motion of the thin-walled spherical shell of the inflatable braking device. Duration of reaching the atmosphere dense layers was estimated.