UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS OF THE ELECTROSTATIC TRACTOR CONTROL PERFORMANCE

The electrostatic tractor concept is an active debris removal method that has been proposed to remove retired satellites from Geostationary Earth Orbit without physical contact, using electrostatic forces. These forces are generated by charging the servicing satellite and the debris with an electron gun that is attached to the servicer. Prior work investigated the effects of debris attitude on performance factors such as reorbit time and control effort. Uncertainty in the electric potential of the debris was also considered. This work extends the analysis of the electrostatic tractor performance by considering additional sources of uncertainty, such as uncertainty in mass properties, charge model errors, and electric potential uncertainty of the servicing satellite. The results suggest that errors in the estimated electric potential have the most significant impact on the reorbit performance.