After two and a half years of work, the H2020 project ReDSHIFT (Revolutionary Design of Spacecraft through Holistic Integration of Future Technologies) is approaching the final semester. The focus or ReDSHIFT is to study a new paradigm in the planning of space missions where the space debris issue is central, from different perspectives: theoretical, technological (hardware and software) and political. The project is grounded on two main pillars, theoretical and experimental. The first one is based on a complete mapping of the LEO to GEO region looking for "dynamical" disposal strategies for any orbital regime, exploiting natural perturbations to the spacecraft orbits. Some preferential de-orbiting routes, called "de-orbiting highways", result from specific resonances populating the different orbital regimes involving gravitational (lunisolar and geopotential) and non-gravitational perturbations (solar radiation pressure). In order to properly exploit the solar radiation pressure driven resonances, the use of area augmentation devices (solar and drag sails) is studied in detail. The experimental pillar is mainly devoted to the design and production of a novel spacecraft by 3D printing. The advantages of the additive manufacturing in terms of design, prototyping and production were studied and tested. Innovative shielding against small particles were studied and shall be directly embedded in the aluminum printed spacecraft structure. The shields were separately tested with hypervelocity impacts too. The materials and components of the spacecraft were tested for Design for Demise (D4D) in the DLR heated wind tunnel. The D4D tests included also an unprecedented test on an engineering model of a reaction wheel. The first prototype spacecraft (an 8-unit CubeSat) is now in the production phase and will be tested in the late spring. Based on the results of the first testing phase an improved design, expressly tailored to the 3D printing peculiarities, will be performed and the final ReDSHIFT prototype will be printed in the second part of the year 2018. A software tool, that shall help users to conceive a "debris compliant" space mission from the design to the disposal phase encompassing all the above findings, was produced. A web version will be made public at the end of the project on the ReDSHIFT website (http://redshift-h2020.eu/). The possible improvements to the international space regulations and standards, stemming from the projects findings, were analysed and will be outlined here and more expensively presented separately in this same meeting. The research leading to these results has received funding from the Horizon 2020 Program of the European Unions Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (H2020-PROTEC-2015) under REA grant agreement n. [687500]- ReDSHIFT.
The H2020 ReDSHIFT project: summary of the main results
A Rossi;EM Alessi;G Schettino;
2018
Abstract
After two and a half years of work, the H2020 project ReDSHIFT (Revolutionary Design of Spacecraft through Holistic Integration of Future Technologies) is approaching the final semester. The focus or ReDSHIFT is to study a new paradigm in the planning of space missions where the space debris issue is central, from different perspectives: theoretical, technological (hardware and software) and political. The project is grounded on two main pillars, theoretical and experimental. The first one is based on a complete mapping of the LEO to GEO region looking for "dynamical" disposal strategies for any orbital regime, exploiting natural perturbations to the spacecraft orbits. Some preferential de-orbiting routes, called "de-orbiting highways", result from specific resonances populating the different orbital regimes involving gravitational (lunisolar and geopotential) and non-gravitational perturbations (solar radiation pressure). In order to properly exploit the solar radiation pressure driven resonances, the use of area augmentation devices (solar and drag sails) is studied in detail. The experimental pillar is mainly devoted to the design and production of a novel spacecraft by 3D printing. The advantages of the additive manufacturing in terms of design, prototyping and production were studied and tested. Innovative shielding against small particles were studied and shall be directly embedded in the aluminum printed spacecraft structure. The shields were separately tested with hypervelocity impacts too. The materials and components of the spacecraft were tested for Design for Demise (D4D) in the DLR heated wind tunnel. The D4D tests included also an unprecedented test on an engineering model of a reaction wheel. The first prototype spacecraft (an 8-unit CubeSat) is now in the production phase and will be tested in the late spring. Based on the results of the first testing phase an improved design, expressly tailored to the 3D printing peculiarities, will be performed and the final ReDSHIFT prototype will be printed in the second part of the year 2018. A software tool, that shall help users to conceive a "debris compliant" space mission from the design to the disposal phase encompassing all the above findings, was produced. A web version will be made public at the end of the project on the ReDSHIFT website (http://redshift-h2020.eu/). The possible improvements to the international space regulations and standards, stemming from the projects findings, were analysed and will be outlined here and more expensively presented separately in this same meeting. The research leading to these results has received funding from the Horizon 2020 Program of the European Unions Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (H2020-PROTEC-2015) under REA grant agreement n. [687500]- ReDSHIFT.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
