Benefits of Active Debris Removal on the LEO Debris Population

Since the launch of Sputnik, orbital debris population continues to increase due to ongoing space activities, on-orbit explosions, and accidental collisions. In the future, a great deal of fragments can be expected to be created by explosions and collisions. In spite of prevention of satellite and rocket upper stage explosions and other mitigation measures, debris population in low Earth orbit may not be stabilized. To better limit the growth of the future debris population, it is necessary to remove the existing debris actively. This paper studies about the effectiveness of active debris removal in low Earth orbit where the collision rate with and between space debris is high. This study does not consider economic problems, but investigates removing debris which may stabilize well the current debris population based on the concept of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.