integrating fundamental laws of natural science and technology to tackle space debris catastrophe 15646

Project TitleProject Area of Specialization Information & Communication TechnologyProject Summary

Revolution is space science and technology has resulted in several space crafts launched into earth’s orbits. However, with the growing space missions, these valuable natural orbits have become cluttered with artificial debris (Space-Junk), objects that now serve no useful purpose. This project took up a challenge to preserve and maintain a safe and sustainable space environment by developing a solution to tackle the space debris catastrophe. The concerned problem is narrowed down to the most crowded orbit (Low Earth Orbit). The research work is aimed to devise a solution that involves harnessing the natural resources already present in the LEO environment such as Solar Radiation pressure and utilizing the natural cleaning process by the atmospheric drag to perturb the junk objects into the atmosphere and force them to naturally burn up. By using efficient data analysis techniques and machine learning algorithms, the classification of thousands of objects into different relevant groups will be accomplished then, using the equations of physics governing the physical laws in the low earth orbit environment, simulation based results will be verified and a physical prototype model will be developed that is needed to be sent as a system installed in satellites to complete the mission.

Project Objectives

• Simplifying the complex environment of junk objects present in the low earth orbit through unsupervised machine learning algorithms and big data analysis techniques. (Clustering)

• A solution to actively remove the major dangerous classified object(s) which will be a cost effective and reliable solution technique that can be adapted in future by space agencies, industry for active debris removal of large junk bodies.

• Sustainable space environment and effective usage of earth's orbits.

• Sustainable space exploration, research, scientific observation & awareness of the limited orbits around the earth and its effective usage.

• Space education, research & initiating space outreach activities in Pakistan.

• Collaboration between Pakistan and other space organizations/industries around the world.

Project Implementation Method

• Selecting the orbital region in which the problem needs immediate attention and the focus has been narrowed down to the orbital region Low Earth Orbit (LEO), it is the most widely used and crowded orbit and is at relatively higher risk of becoming non-functional due to space debris problems.
•  Carrying out a detailed research of past & ongoing projects which are related to active debris removal. It will allow us not to consider those ideas which have already failed or are very difficult to implement in view of the present state of technology.
•  Studying the LEO’s environmental properties and constraints to figure out if there exist any natural phenomena that could be harnessed with technology to increase the orbital decay lifetime of debris objects and perturb their motion to burn them through atmospheric drag. (The focus is to use Solar Radiation Pressure)
• Classifying objects into clusters using machine learning techniques and data analysis tools; complex environments of objects are grouped and simplified based on similarities in any physical properties/characteristics such as velocities, inclination, separation, masses, sizes etc. Looking out for any of these similarities helps to generalize the active debris removal methodology and train the on-ground observation models to predict the future environment.
•  Creating a theoretical model of space debris removal, in compliance with the laws of physics and practical applicability.
•  Formulating a mathematical framework to investigate the validity of the developed model.
•  Theoretical model and a mathematical framework are being simulated using suitable simulation tools and cloud facilities to obtain the results on high performance computer systems. 
•  Obtained results will be tested for accuracy. If the results seem favorable for application, then we will go on to develop a prototype model to obtain the experimental results physically. At this stage our focus is to use the radiation pressure and optical arrangement of lenses in the LEO environment to focus the force by the photons on targeted areas and perturb the objects towards the atmosphere where they naturally burn. Testing the results will be first based upon mathematical work and simulation/modeling then experimental prototype developed.
• The outcomes and the proposed idea can also be shared with space organizations for future work and international collaborations.

Benefits of the Project

The increasing space missions/satellite launches have resulted in the cluttering of the valuable and limited orbital regions around the earth that have many advantages for several space applications, scientific experiments, space exploration and research. The present space-junk environment contains objects including Spent Rocket Bodies, non-functional satellites, lens caps, bolts and other mission related objects, aluminum oxide chunks from the exhaust of solid rocket motors, paint chips etc that have no useful purpose. The debris population has become more pronounced with numerous explosion and collision events on orbit that took place during the past years. Space debris and its rapid growth has now become a global concern and challenge to the whole space community/industry; it is clear that any man-made object present in the orbital environment even as small as 1 cm in size travels at such high relative velocities (more than 10 km/s) carrying enough momentum to damage an operational spacecraft or severely affects its useful operation. The catastrophic threat that space debris poses to space operations/applications is not very large or profound at the present moment, but without having an obvious solution, a disastrous chain reaction could begin at any moment in the future and we are already on its verge now; (about 31140 debris objects tracked by Space Surveillance Network- 10th May 2022).  The consequences of debris proliferation would be hazardous for all space communities and will also affect human civilization/business activities on earth. It is a high time to act and it requires immediate actions taken by researchers, scientists, engineers, space enthusiasts, policy makers etc.

This work aims to tackle the global issue and make an effort to preserve one of the limited resourceful orbital regions (Low Earth Orbit- LEO) around the earth, which is a useful natural resource for many space applications. By proposing an innovative solution for the orbital debris problem, it will ensure a safe and healthy future space research and exploration. The project highlights and takes into account the problem that is a growing global concern today. It is a big challenge for the space community and ongoing research in the international space industry that involves collaborative work among scientists, researchers, engineers, policy makers and government officials.(Currently we do not have an ideal, obvious solution that could be implemented). This work involves fusing technology and fundamental laws of nature in an innovative way to propose a solution for space junk issues that could be used by international space organizations in future as well to deal with the problem. This work promotes the efficient usage of data science, computer technologies, theoretical physics and sciences into the domain of space science and technology. It will be a new step by Pakistan's academic institution.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

• Un-supervised machine learning algorithm that predicts the clusters of the very complex and huge data tracked regularly by space surveillance networks based upon some similarities in physical characteristics. It simplifies the present junk environment in an efficient way and helps in future to classify objects accordingly. 

• Effective usage of open data of regularly tracked objects (Two Line Element Set Data TLE)

• Powerful simulation tools to accurately obtain the results of active debris removal before actually performing it physically.

• Physical working prototype with optical lens arrangement and a light system that needs to be built on a large scale in LEO that focus the targeted beam of sun's radiation onto the objects belonging to certain categories of clusters initially developed. The plan is to build a well-structured geometric arrangement that will be synchronized by 4-5 small satellite systems for the purpose of targeting the radiation pressure to specific areas where objects pass and get perturbed towards the atmosphere continuously. The lifetime of objects in this way gets reduced and they will naturally burn up in the atmosphere in much less time than without any additional perturbation force. The main focus is to eliminate the large defunct satellites and rocket bodies so the arrangement will be based upon the results obtained from the clustering algorithm. 

• Resulted lifetimes of objects as displayed with simulation that will have been reduced by many years.

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry TelecommunicationOther Industries Education , IT , Others Core Technology Big DataOther Technologies Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics, Cloud Infrastructure, OthersSustainable Development Goals Quality Education, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Partnerships to achieve the GoalRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	80000
Light sources	Equipment	4	10000	40000
Lenses arrangemenet	Equipment	1	10000	10000
Cloud computing	Equipment	1	20000	20000
Thesis printing	Miscellaneous	1	10000	10000