Drag Removal by Autonomous Grapple (DRAG)

For the entire spacecraft community including current and future developers and operators whose hardware is inherently at risk from catastrophic collisions with space debris, the Drag Removal by Autonomous Grapple (DRAG) is an autonomous payload system that docks to identified space debris and increases drag with a deployable sail to accelerate de-orbit times by at least an order of magnitude.Unlike current solutions that require a complex, high-cost spacecraft using robotic manipulators and propulsion system whose only function is to de-orbit debris, our approach is a relatively simple and autonomous payload that is deployed from a host spacecraft and captures a wide variety of uncooperative debris structures using deployable booms that securely wrap around the structure.The designed capture clamping forces are controlled and act on the structure in a manner to pose minimal risk to generation of additional debris.DRAG is readily scalable and reconfigurable to minimize required size, weight, and power of the payload and be compatible for a wide-ranging class of debris structures.