High Priority, Large Orbital Debris Remover

Busek Co. Inc. proposes to initiate the development of a high priority, large orbital debris de-orbiting system. The proposed Orbital Debris Remover (ORDER) will be built on the Evolved Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring platform shared with other similar low cost spacecraft in development at Busek including the ESPA Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) which delivers four secondary payloads to disparate orbits. The ORDER vehicle will shuttle between the debris pick up orbit where it will grapple large, high priority space junk such as a spent upper stage and bring it down to a 250km orbit for drag induced uncontrolled re-entry. With 2000kg debris which is the typical Centaur upper stage dry mass, up to 40 round trips are possible. The total de-orbited mass over the ORDER vehicle life reaches 80,000kg assuming a 700km initial orbit. In Phase I, we will define a concept of operations (CONOPS), detail the architecture, requirements, interfaces and major subsystems. Shared subsystems with the ESPA OMS will be emphasized to reduce cost. Debris grappling tool is the only item presently not available for procurement hence its development will be initiated. A team of highly competent companies to continue the development in Phase 2 will be formed.