Mid-Deployment Model Switching of Tether-Net Systems for Active Debris Removal

One of the most promising solutions to the issue of the increasing amount of space debris orbiting the Earth is net-based Active Debris Removal. For accurate contact detection of thin target geometries with lumped-parameter modeled nets in simulations, many nodes (possibly 10 or more) must be introduced along threads. However, such introduction significantly increases the computational cost of simulations. This work proposes a modeling approach that introduces additional nodes during the deployment phase of the simulation rather than at the beginning to reduce such costs. The approach conserves the net’s total linear momentum and adheres to the work-energy principle when employed mid-simulation. Through both quantitative and qualitative comparisons of nets with and without model switching, this work demonstrates that the methodology does not alter the overall dynamics of the net flight toward the target in a significant way. Capture simulations of a scaled-down Envisat satellite model are performed, where the introduction of model switching results in approx. 2.45 times faster simulation without compromising accuracy in the representation of capture.