Satellite System Design with The Blocking Effect: Application to Active Debris Removal Mission

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-1039.vid This paper describes the system design of satellites with the blocking effect. The blocking effect indicates that the radio wave for the communication or the sun light for the power generation is interfered with another object. This effect cannot be ignored for proving the feasibility of the satellite’s system design especially in several missions such as the active debris removal (ADR) and on-orbit servicing since the satellite must approach closely and touch the non-cooperative objects. This paper investigated the system feasibility of the ADR satellite utilizing the system design method with the blocking effect. At first, we proposes the feasible attitude plan satisfying the condition of the depth of discharge of the battery considering that the generated power is affected by the debris. The power generation distribution on the solar array paddle is also investigated. Finally, the feasibility of the communication to the ground station and GPS satellites under the blocking effect is verified.