The e.Deorbit CDF Study: A Design Study for the Safe Removal of a Large Space Debris

In the period June to September 2012 the European Space Agency conducted a pre-assessment study in order to produce preliminary system designs for capturing a large space Debris, identify their required technology roadmaps, and investigate their applicability to other ESA missions. The study was carried out by an interdisciplinary team of specialists from ESTEC and ESOC within the Concurrent Design Facility (CDF), and was financed by the Clean Space branch 4 initiative. The paper will highlight the details of the trade-off, the design of the sub-systems, the results of various capturing and rendezvous simulations, plus the assessment on cost, risk and programmatics. Finally, it gives a summary of the proposed roadmaps for this mission.