International Laser Ranging Service

ELSA-d

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Mission Images:

Image credit: Astroscale

Mission Objectives:

Scientific/engineering mission goal: The End-of-Life Service by Astroscale Demonstration (ELSA-d) mission's goal is to demonstrate end-of-life support and removal of semi-cooperative targets. Semi-cooperative means the target is equipped with a docking plate which allows for a less complex chaser. The idea is to have this docking plate mounted on future spacecraft, including large constellations. This would allow for reliable removal from orbit, even if the spacecraft does not reach it's designed end-of-life.

In order to find the target reliably, precise knowledge of its orbit is required. TLEs are not accurate enough. Astroscale thus promotes equipping future spacecraft with retro-reflectors especially for customers of their end-of-life support.

Role of SLR for the mission: The Satellite Laser Ranging will be used to perform Precise Orbit Determination of both Chaser and Target spacecrafts. This will allow the validation of relative ranging measurements that constitute the core of rendezvous & docking capabilities. It will also be vital for demonstrating the capability to find a semi-cooperative target. In the target search demo phase, SLR data will be used to get the chaser close enough for its proximity sensors to work.

The support of the ILRS network to precise orbit determination would be very welcome.

Mission Parameters:

Related Information:

• Astroscale website
• Mission Support Request Forms:
  • ELSA-d Target (October 2019, July 2021)
  • ELSA-d Chaser (October 2019, July 2021)