Review and comparison of active space debris capturing and removal methods

Space debris is considered as a serious problem for operational space missions. Many enabling space debris capturing and removal methods have been proposed in the past decade and several methods have been tested on ground and/or in parabolic flight experiments. However, not a single space debris has been removed yet. A space debris object is usually non-cooperative and thus different with targets of on orbit servicing missions. Thus, capturing and removal of space debris is significantly more challenging. One of the greatest challenges is how to reliably capture and remove a non-cooperative target avoiding to generate even more space debris. To motivate this research area and facilitate the development of active space debris removal, this paper provides review and comparison of the existing technologies on active space debris capturing and removal. It also reviews research areas worth investigating under each capturing and removal method. Frameworks of methods for capturing and removing space debris are developed. The advantages and drawbacks of the most relevant capturing and removal methods are addressed as well. In addition, examples and existing projects related to these methods are discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.