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De-Orbiting Upper Stage Rocket Bodies Using A Deployable High Altitude Drag Sail, Robert A. Hawkins Jr., Joseph A. Palomares
De-Orbiting Upper Stage Rocket Bodies Using A Deployable High Altitude Drag Sail, Robert A. Hawkins Jr., Joseph A. Palomares
Aerospace Engineering
This report examines the effectiveness of a drag sail to de-orbit upper stage rocket bodies. Many other perturbations contribute to the de-orbiting of these rocket bodies, and these perturbations will also be discussed briefly. This paper will show the length of time needed to force the altitudes of various launch vehicle stages with varying drag area sizes to less than 100 km. The upper stage of the Delta IV launch vehicle in an orbit with an altitude of 500 km will naturally de-orbit in 720 days but when equipped with a 20 m2 drag sail, it will de-orbit in …