Earth’s gravity gradient and eddy currents effects on the rotational dynamics of space debris objects: Envisat case study
Earth’s gravity gradient and eddy currents effects on the rotational dynamics of space debris objects: Envisat case study
The space debris population has grown rapidly over the last few decades with the consequent growth of impact risk between current objects in orbit. Active Debris Removal (ADR) has been recommended to be put into practice by several National Agencies in order to remove objects that pose the biggest risk for the space community. The most immediate target that is being considered for ADR by the European Space Agency is the Earth-observing satellite Envisat. In order to safely remove such a massive object from its orbit, a capturing process followed by a controlled reentry is necessary. However, current ADR methods that require physical contact with the target have limitations on the maximum angular momentum that can be absorbed and a de-tumbling phase prior to the capturing process may be required. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for the ADR mission design to be able to predict accurately how the target will be rotating at the time of capture. This article analyses two perturbations that affect an object in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the Earth’s gravity gradient and the eddy currents induced by the Earth’s magnetic field. The gravity gradient is analysed using the equation of conservation of total energy and a graphical method is presented to understand the expected behaviour of any object under the effect of this perturbation. The eddy currents are also analysed by studying the total energy of the system. The induced torque and the characteristic time of decay are presented as a function of the object’s magnetic tensor. In addition, simulations were carried out for the Envisat spacecraft including the gravity gradient perturbation as well as the eddy currents effect using the International Geomagnetic Reference Field IGRF-11 to model the Earth’s magnetic field. These simulations show that the combined effect of these two perturbations is a plausible explanation for the rotational speed decay observed between April 2013 and September 2013.
space debris, tumbling, gravity gradient, eddy currents, envisat
494-508
Gómez, Natalia Ortiz
a9b9ef9a-75c8-42d4-986d-4c7b6e61c9ef
Walker, Scott J.I.
f28a342f-9755-48fd-94ea-09e44ac4dbf5
1 August 2015
Gómez, Natalia Ortiz
a9b9ef9a-75c8-42d4-986d-4c7b6e61c9ef
Walker, Scott J.I.
f28a342f-9755-48fd-94ea-09e44ac4dbf5
Gómez, Natalia Ortiz and Walker, Scott J.I.
(2015)
Earth’s gravity gradient and eddy currents effects on the rotational dynamics of space debris objects: Envisat case study.
[in special issue: Advances in Asteroid and Space Debris Science and Technology - Part 1]
Advances in Space Research, 56 (3), .
(doi:10.1016/j.asr.2014.12.031).
Abstract
The space debris population has grown rapidly over the last few decades with the consequent growth of impact risk between current objects in orbit. Active Debris Removal (ADR) has been recommended to be put into practice by several National Agencies in order to remove objects that pose the biggest risk for the space community. The most immediate target that is being considered for ADR by the European Space Agency is the Earth-observing satellite Envisat. In order to safely remove such a massive object from its orbit, a capturing process followed by a controlled reentry is necessary. However, current ADR methods that require physical contact with the target have limitations on the maximum angular momentum that can be absorbed and a de-tumbling phase prior to the capturing process may be required. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for the ADR mission design to be able to predict accurately how the target will be rotating at the time of capture. This article analyses two perturbations that affect an object in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the Earth’s gravity gradient and the eddy currents induced by the Earth’s magnetic field. The gravity gradient is analysed using the equation of conservation of total energy and a graphical method is presented to understand the expected behaviour of any object under the effect of this perturbation. The eddy currents are also analysed by studying the total energy of the system. The induced torque and the characteristic time of decay are presented as a function of the object’s magnetic tensor. In addition, simulations were carried out for the Envisat spacecraft including the gravity gradient perturbation as well as the eddy currents effect using the International Geomagnetic Reference Field IGRF-11 to model the Earth’s magnetic field. These simulations show that the combined effect of these two perturbations is a plausible explanation for the rotational speed decay observed between April 2013 and September 2013.
Text
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- Author's Original
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 28 December 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 January 2015
Published date: 1 August 2015
Keywords:
space debris, tumbling, gravity gradient, eddy currents, envisat
Organisations:
Astronautics Group
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 374048
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/374048
ISSN: 0273-1177
PURE UUID: 38e0cd94-c73e-4f94-84aa-120ecd06b6e2
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Date deposited: 10 Feb 2015 09:58
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 19:01
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Author:
Natalia Ortiz Gómez
Author:
Scott J.I. Walker
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