Active Debris Removal Simulations Using Spider-Web Space-Nets for KITSAT-1 Satellite

This paper conducts capture simulations using space-nets based on the spider-web structure for Korea’s first satellite, KITSAT-1 to investigate the capture performance of the spider-web space-net. A nonlinear structural dynamics analysis code, ABAQUS, is used in the simulation study. Explicit scheme is applied to represent the nonlinearity and geometrical large deformation behaviors of the space-net. The capture performance of two types of space-net is investigated when changing the design parameters of the space-net from the baseline model. The numerical results show that the spider-web space-net has a better capture performance than the square space-net, and the possibility of the space-net as a means of capturing KITSAT-1 is investigated.