ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to establish mitigation technologies, collectively called active debris removal (ADR), to remove existing space debris and ensure the sustainable utilization of near-Earth orbits. One of the most important factors in reducing the cost of space systems is utilization of terrestrial technologies, especially commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices. The major difference between terrestrial utilization and orbital utilization can be summarized as follows: if two aspects described in the following subsections are carefully considered, COTS devices can be used in Earth orbit. The orbit of an ADR satellite can be approximately controlled using orbit information, but ADR satellite needs to identify target debris orbit precisely to achieve a fine-tuned and safe rendezvous with the target debris. The chapter describes the low-cost intelligent guidance and navigation system that has been designed to enable reliable mitigation of space debris. Various technologies, such as in-situ identification of space debris, rendezvous and homing, and robotics, need to be improved to actively remove space debris.
