International Space Elevator Consortium ISEC Position Paper # 2020-1 Today's Space Elevator Assured Survivability Approach for Space Debris A Primer for Progress in Space Elevator Development Note: each debris white dot not to scale Peter Swan, Ph.D. Michael Fitzgerald Cathy Swan, Ph.D. Today's Space Elevator Assured Survivability Approach for Space Debris Peter Swan, Ph.D. Michael Fitzgerald Cathy Swan, Ph.D. Prepared for the International Space Elevator Consortium Chief Architect's Office March 2020 International Space Elevator Consortium ISEC Position Paper # 2020-1 ii International Space Elevator Consortium ISEC Position Paper # 2020-1 Today's Space Elevator Assured Survivability Approach for Space Debris Copyright © 2020 by: Peter Swan Michael Fitzgerald International Space Elevator Consortium All rights reserved, including the rights to reproduce this manuscript or portions thereof in any form. Published by Lulu.com
[email protected] 978-1-67818-191-8 Cover Illustrations: Front – Image from NASA Orbital Debris Office https://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/images/beehives/leo1280.jpg Printed in the United States of America iii International Space Elevator Consortium ISEC Position Paper # 2020-1 iv International Space Elevator Consortium ISEC Position Paper # 2020-1 Preface The Space Elevator is a Catalyst for Change! Space debris is expected to be a part of space operations for most of this century. The real mitigation approach is the establishment of policy and actions that will prevent, and extensively reduce, creation of debris in the first place. The Space Elevator must become a catalyst to instigate more aggressive and active removal and mitigation of space debris. This position paper is the International Space Elevator Consortium's (ISEC) attempt to document an approach to mitigate the Space Elevator mission impact and identify safety issues when space debris threatens Space Elevator tethers.