“Multispacecraft to Multidebris” Space Debris Removal Strategy Based on Target Allocation Method

Abstract

The combination of increased amount of “space junk”, lack of precise tracking information and control of items orbiting Earth, and debris from past collisions posed important threats to human space missions. In this study, a strategy enabling “multispacecraft to multidebris” debris removal task is proposed. By analyzing the current distribution of space debris, 282 large debris and rocket bodies are selected as target database. The traditional-density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise algorithm is innovatively modified by defining the speed increment as threshold parameter for dividing target debris into different clusters. Then, the Hungarian-algorithm-based target allocation strategy is used to assign multispacecraft to different debris clusters for the removal mission. Simulations verify the effectiveness of the proposed “multispacecraft to multidebris” strategy that is able to remove as much as 83.33% of the total 282 target debris.