Enabling Technologies for Active Space Debris Removal: The Cadet Project

This paper describes the activities performed by Aviospace in the frame of CADET (CApture and DE-orbiting Technologies) R&T project, whose objective is the preliminary development of enabling technologies required for Active Debris Removal from LEO orbits. The project focuses in particular in-space capture concepts for large space debris, such as upper stages of elderly launchers or decommissioned satellites. For these, a non-collaborative rendez-vous and capture procedure, to be performed by a robotic spacecraft (namely “chaser”), is required.