Proposal on the aerodynamic braking device elaboration based on foam materials for small spacecraft

Aeronautical and Space-Rocket Engineering


Аuthors

Moscatin'ev I. V.1*, Sysoev V. K.1**, Firsyuk S. O.***, Yudin A. D.1, 2****

1. Lavochkin Research and Production Association, NPO Lavochkin, 24, Leningradskay str., Khimki, Moscow region, 141400, Russia
2. Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), 4, Volokolamskoe shosse, Moscow, А-80, GSP-3, 125993, Russia

*e-mail: miv@laspace.ru
**e-mail: SysoevVK@laspace.ru
***e-mail: iskramai@gmail.com
****e-mail: yudin@lasapace.ru

Abstract

For more than 60 years of space activity, more than 6 thousand launches have resulted in the appearance of about 56,000 objects in orbit, out of which about 26,000 can be tracked from Earth. According to the Main Information and Analytical Center of the automated warning System about dangerous situations, about 3,000 objects listed in the catalog are active satellites, and the remaining objects represent space debris. In recent decades, the problem of near-Earth space pollution by technogenic objects is being worsen in connection with the space activities expansion, i.e., the tendency to the spacecraft miniaturization and launching of numerous small spacecraft groupings instead of a single large spacecraft. As of now, methods for space debris cleaning-off are being actively developed, as well as measures preventing in prospect the possibility of contamination itself.

As of passive techniques for nano-satellites withdrawal from low near-Earth orbits, the most realizable are the method of aerodynamic braking by the inflatable devices and braking devices from foam polymer materials of a foamed plastic type. The inflatable braking device possesses the following disadvantages:

– a high probability of both internal (during disclosing) and external damage (micrometeriorites, space debris particles, solar UV radiation), which will lead to rapid loss of gas composition and the shell shape deformation;

– the loss of shape will be occurring while interaction with atmosphere and, as a consequence, braking probability reduction.

Polymer material coating by foam for a braking device creating has the following disadvantages:

– the foam coating formation is of a high polymerization rate, thus, the coating spherical shape obtaining in vacuum is rather difficult to control;

– there is no proof that the foam coating will retain its structure in a vacuum;

– technical device for the foam creating is more complex than the inflatable mechanism.

Our proposal supposes foam feeding into an elastic thin-film tank of a rubber ball type. The walls of this ball will perform two functions: expand under the impact of the foam to the large sizes and, on the other hand, will limit the foam material escape into space. To realize the said method, , the activities on numerical modeling and model experiments on disclosing and filling the braking shell with the foam materials under conditions close to the operation on low near-Earth orbits are required besides developing a special polymer foam for operation under vacuum conditions.

Keywords:

space debris, near-Earth space, small spacecraft, deorbiting, polymer foams

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