Astrium Gmbh

Josef Sommer

Juergen Starke

Bernhard Bischof

Michael Dumke

Uwe Bruege

Uwe Brüge

For capturing satellites and other orbital objects, one or more independent capturing units are releasably arranged on a spacecraft serving as a steerable carrier vehicle. Each capturing unit has a propellant charge and at least one braking thrust nozzle of its own, and a closeable capture net releasably connected to the capturing unit via a tether line. The net is deployed from the capturing unit to capture the orbital object. Position or attitude control engines of the carrier vehicle are operated for orienting the combination including the capturing unit and the orbital object captured in the net. The capturing unit is then released from the carrier vehicle, and applies a braking thrust to the captured object so as to deorbit the captured object together with the capturing unit.

Growing community of inventors

Weyhe, Germany

Josef Sommer