With the first V-2 A4 rocket launched by Germany during the second World War II, the space industry has evolved drastically and had some significant advancements in this field. The space age began on 4th of October 1957 with the launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite launched by the Soviet Union into the elliptical Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Since then, there have been more debris in the orbits than the operational satellites. The space debris poses a global threat to all the satellites in the space irrespective of the orbit in which they are revolving, and only a globally supported solution can solve this rising concern.
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The orbital debris, as explained by NASA, is ‘space debris that encompasses both natural (meteoroid), and artificial (man-made) particles. Meteoroids are in orbit around the sun, while most artificial debris is in orbit around the Earth. Hence, the latter is commonly referred to as orbital debris.’ Due to technological limitations, the removal of meteoroids from space is restricted at least for the next 15 years. Since the orbital debris poses a greater threat to the satellites, the industry is currently concentrating on the removal of orbital debris to protect the space assets from freely moving, high-velocity particles and objects.
The first awareness of the space debris problem was first brought by the research activities undertaken in the U.S. in the early 1960s, but it took some time to gain some traction from the international community. The first-ever international conference to address the space debris issue was organized by the International Astronautical Federation in the mid-1970s. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) organized the first dedicated conference on space debris mitigation in 1982, followed by the workshop on the re-entry of space debris organized by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1983.
The growing trend for advanced technologies and sensors being used to avoid collisions with debris particles in space has led to the demand for the space debris removal market. Although the debris removal systems are not commercially viable to the manufacturers as of now, the need for such systems is expected to grow over the next ten years. The application of the debris removal market based on the debris size plays an important role. Small objects that are even a few centimeters in size can damage or destroy the spacecraft. Various companies are manufacturing space observation radars and sensors to measure the population of space debris regularly. The results obtained from the radars are then calibrated and validated to understand the space debris environment.
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The current applications of space debris removal technologies are limited for demonstrations in the lower and medium earth orbits; however, it is anticipated to change over the coming years. Additionally, several companies such as D-Orbit, Tethers Unlimited, Inc. have been working actively to develop and manufacture products that can be used to de-orbit the satellites at the end of their useful life. Tethers Unlimited, Inc. company’s Terminator tape has been successfully tested for self-deorbiting of the satellites, and several satellite manufactures have already shown interest in installing the system in their spacecraft to reduce the burden of the increasing satellite debris issue. The terminator tape enables the satellite manufacturers to comply with the regulation of the Federal Communication Commission to self-deorbit the spacecraft after their useful life. The solution that is being currently suggested for the satellites in LEO is to capture the defunct debris particle and burn it during the re-entry phase in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The focus of active space debris removal manufacturers in the ecosystem is toward developing advanced technologies to capture the debris particle safely and deorbit the satellite. The rise of safety concerns for satellites is driving the key players in the space debris removal industry to design and develop innovative solutions. This chapter of the report deals with the market size of the active space debris removal industry in different classifications such as removal techniques, mode of operation, and level of autonomy.
UPCOMING INDUSTRY TRENDS 