Ad Astras VASIMR Space Tug A CostEfficient Low

Ad Astra’s VASIMR® Space Tug: A Cost-Efficient Low Earth Orbit Space Cleaner Erik Seedhouse, Ph. D, Applied Aviation Sciences seedhoue@erau. edu T: 386 -226 -2951

Space Debris Ø More than 20, 000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth Ø 500, 000 pieces of debris the size of a marble or larger Ø Traveling at speeds of up to 17, 500 mph

Large Debris Removal Options: Ø Ø Do Nothing Swiss Space Systems Space Debris Elimination (Spa. DE) Electrodynamic Debris Eliminator (EDDE) Ø Sling. Sat Ø Or…

Large Debris Removal Ø Ø Apply VASIMR technology High power Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) space tug

Capture and Controlled Deorbit Ø Ø Target: spent Zenit upper stage Mode of capture: 200 k. W SEP VASIMR® space tug

Capture and Controlled Deorbit Ø Nine steps: (i) Tug fitted with service module (SM) comprising solid rocket motor (SRM) tray, loaded with 20 SRM units (ii) Tug climbs to Zenit orbit (~800 km) (iii) Chemical Robotic Pod (CRP) released

Capture and Controlled Deorbit (iv) CRP captures, stabilizes, and brings target back to a hard docking with tug (v) At capture, the CRP also robotically installs a fresh SRM unit onto the Zenit rocket nozzle.

Capture and Controlled Deorbit (vi) Tug brings it down to 400 km for release (vii) Newly fitted SRM ignites (viii) Zenit is brought to a controlled atmospheric re-entry (xi) VASIMR® tug climbs back, captures next target and repeats the process.

Questions?