Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of an Active Debris Removal Mission Architecture via Electric Propulsion

We present a design optimization framework for an active orbital debris removal mission considering both minimizing Life Cycle Cost and mission time to balance the economic feasibility and efficiency of an active debris removal mission. The general concept of operations consists of spacecraft capable of deorbiting 22 identical high-priority debris from sun-synchronous orbit via continuous low thrust from electrostatic thrusters. This modular subsystem framework is proposed and investigated with a fractional factorial design of experiments approach. The single objective optimization minimizes the Life Cycle Cost of the mission through a heuristic-based genetic algorithm, resulting in a 4.12-year, $354 million mission via 5.34 kW xenon Hall thrusters. We present Pareto fronts generated by a multiobjective weighted sum genetic algorithm to highlight the cost and time objective space for both a nominal and expensive xenon price per kilogram to show how the design space fluctuates with xenon price volatility. Xenon Hall thrusters dominate the Pareto front, with moderate power thrusters minimizing Life Cycle Cost while meeting time constraints. High-power 8 kW xenon Hall thrusters are proven to be in closest proximity to the utopia of the multiobjective design space with a cost of $687 million and mission time of 1 year. High-power krypton Hall thrusters prove to offer a comparable alternative to xenon systems.