CubeSat-based Space Debris Mitigation

Maya Grutman (ME)
Vlad Bershchanskiy (ME)
Matthew Leach (ME)

Advised by Professor Michelle Rosen

In low Earth orbit, the growing debris field, which contains defunct satellites and millions of fragments, puts active and future missions at risk of collision. Our solution outfits a CubeSat, a small cube satellite of ten centimeter length, with an active deorbiting system that captures and removes debris within the 1-10 centimeter range. The platform consists of a deployable netting structure launched by compression springs to envelop target debris and deorbit the entire system by a drag sail.