DEVELOPING SOLUTIONS FOR ACTIVE SPACE DEBRIS REMOVAL

This thesis gives an overview on the current issue of space debris and its implications, drawing attention to the proposed active debris removal techniques under investigation. Three developing solutions have been chosen to be examined and compared, aiming to deepening the various aspects of each: the gecko-based ADR technique, concerning the study of bio-inspired micropatterned dry adhesives and exploiting the particular structure of gecko’s foot, the electrodynamic tether mechanism, which employs the interaction between the geomagnetic field and the current flowing in tethers to produce electrodynamic drag, and finally the ClearSpace-1 mission, which avails itself of robotic arms to capture space debris.