Turion Space

Active Space Debris Removal in Low Earth Orbit

Space Debris poses a exponentially growing risk to the low-earth-orbit and the in-space economy as whole. The number of objects entering orbit is growing at a far greater pace than the objects returning to earth, which will eventually lead to the Kessler Syndrome unless something is done to address the problem. The student team worked to develop a spacecraft capable of active-debris-removal by rendezvous and docking with the uncontrolled objects and bringing the objects down to a lower, and less populated altitude, such that the objects will naturally decay due to the earth's atmosphere over the course of a year.

Faculty Adviser(s)

Erik Hurlen, Aeronautics & Astronautics