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oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/108004 2023-07-11 col_2142_5131 col_2142_14800 com_2142_5130 com_2142_14799 com_2142_234

Ho, Koki Hardy, Brian Patrick 2020-08-26T21:54:56Z 2020-08-26T21:54:56Z 2020-05-11 2020-05 This thesis examines the potential long-term impacts of satellite megaconstellations in Low Earth Orbit, with a focus on how post-mission disposal rates for megaconstellations will affect their contributions to orbital debris over the next 150 years. A new, medium-fidelity simulation for modeling orbital debris is developed and described, and several test cases are run with SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation and varying success rates for post-mission disposal. In cases where Starlink’s post-mission disposal rate is insufficient to prevent debris growth, varying amounts of active debris removal are explored as a potential mitigation measure. It is shown that LEO debris levels will grow at almost double their baseline rate if Starlink meets only the minimum regulatory requirements for post-mission disposal, and even relatively high rates of active debris removal cannot always return the LEO environment to its non-megaconstellation baseline. Still, the potential exists to minimize the debris-generating effects of large megaconstellations like Starlink if post-mission disposal rates of 95% or better can be achieved. Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2020-08-25 without embargo terms The student, Brian Hardy, accepted the attached license on 2020-05-06 at 23:41. The student, Brian Hardy, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-05-06 at 23:50. This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-05-11 at 10:18. DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15264 on 2020-08-25 at 17:12:39 Made available in DSpace on 2020-08-26T21:54:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 HARDY-THESIS-2020.pdf: 1307114 bytes, checksum: 2cdbc82cfd26aba61269c6c06a5546fc (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4208 bytes, checksum: 130bb5c401651f73006a4f504706aafd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020-05-11 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108004 en Copyright 2020 Brian Hardy space debris megaconstellations active debris removal Long-term effects of satellite megaconstellations on the debris environment in low earth orbit text Thesis Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Thesis M.S.