Deorbit · Mission C · GEO graveyard

Ion beam shepherd

Contactless push of a derelict GEO satellite to the IADC disposal orbit, then a cheap sub‑GEO drift to the next target in the same inclination cluster.

Operations sequence

Target & shepherd

Target mass m_t 3000 kg Beam thrust F_beam 40 mN Beam capture η_B 0.80 Beam half‑angle 15° Standoff 15 m Target A/m, C_R=1.3 0.020 m²/kg

Time & camera

Sim rate 1 day / s

Propellant · Isp 1500 s · shepherd 500 kg

Used on this target 0.0 kg Budget per target — kg

How to read it. The pale‑blue cone is the ion beam hitting the derelict, the teal cone is the counter thruster holding standoff. Force on target is η_BF_beam, and the counter thruster carries F_beam + m_sa so the shepherd follows. In orbit view, radial offsets are exaggerated ×30 so a 300 km raise is visible next to a 42 164 km orbit.

MET T+0 d 00:00 Phase — Camera — Range —

Ion beam on target Counter thruster GEO, 35 786 km, equatorial Derelict cluster, i = 7.4° Graveyard, GEO + Δh

Target altitude35 786.0 km

Raise so far0.0 km

IADC raise— km

Δv delivered0.00 m/s

Δv required— m/s

Target accel— µm/s²

Counter thrust— mN

Beam‑on time— d

Tumble rate— °/s

Shepherd drift0.00 °/day

Targets cleared0