Numerical study of rocket upper stage deorbiting using passive electrodynamic tether drag

The purpose of this article is a numerical study of the possibility of deorbiting a rocket upper stage from low Earth orbit at EOM (end of mission) by means of passive electrodynamic tether drag. The article is structured as follows: the introduction presents the space debris problem in low Earth orbit and the possible methods of deorbiting spacecraft. The next part of the article describes summarily some space tether applications. The third part of the article presents the principle of operation behind passive electrodynamic tether drag. In the fourth part, this principle is detailed so as to represent the input for a numerical study for the deorbit time when using the passive electrodynamic drag concept as deorbiting application. Lastly, the results are presented and conclusions are drawn.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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