A preliminary study on dead geostationary satellite removal (Q546441)

In this paper the orbital long-term variation of a dead satellite drifting in the geostationary orbit are analyzed. The effects posed by dead satellites upon the on-orbit operational geostationary satellites are studied. An idea of satellite sweeper to collect on-orbit dead satellites is proposed. The satellite sweeper consists of a parent satellite and a child satellite. The child satellite collects a dead satellite and transfers it to a higher orbit. The parent satellite stationed in the geostationary orbit is in charge of refueling the child satellite. The strategy of maneuver and rendezvous is presented and a series of formulas are derived. The results, that represented in 8 figures, show that considered method to clean the geostationary orbital zone is practical and at a saving.