CubeSats and orbital debris

Abstract

Abstract CubeSat missions may have an outsized effect on the orbital debris environment if the status quo of orbital lifetime and spacecraft reliability does not change. This chapter discusses how CubeSat designers and operators can determine if their spacecraft are built and operated in a sustainable way allowing for future missions to operate in the same space. Going forward, CubeSats must be designed to mitigate (both through deorbit and as a possible removal mechanism of other objects) the growth of the orbital debris environment and also serve as platforms for measurement and remediation of the on-orbit debris population.