A novel recycling concept for space debris mitigation

In this work a novel concept of space debris mitigation technique is assessed. The main idea beyond this analysis derives from the consideration that many subsystems could be used after the mission end of life. The studied model involves the analysis of the effects on the space debris long-term growth of a new spacecraft design concept voted to the exploitation of reusable subsystems left on orbit by decayed missions. The first step of the study has involved a dynamic model development process. The model, obtained from a modified version of the predator-prey equations, is focused on the total mass evolution. The effects of the recycling concept has been assessed considering different percentage or reused parts and referring them as percentage of reused mass. The obtained results show a remarkable reduction of the space debris growth trend exploiting spacecraft parts, components and subsystems that have nominal life longer than the satellite itself, and the important contribution that can be provided to the active debris removal activities in the long term view