Brane Craft

The Phase I study established that Brane Craft could be used for active orbital debris removal from LEO, once significant technological issues like multi-megarad-tolerant surface electronics, fault-tolerant distributed command and control systems, and spacecraft design for ~100C temperature swings were solved. One major assumption was that electrospray thruster technologies would continue to be developed by other programs, and could be rescaled at a future date to meet our unique micron-scale system thickness requirements. Overall, these studies showed that a 1-square meter Brane Craft with a mass of only 81 grams could start at the International Space Station (ISS), rendezvous with an object of to a kilogram in mass at up to 2000-km altitude, wrap around that object, and bring it down to a ~200-km disposal altitude. Total mission time was 4 weeks maximum. Performing this mission using a CubeSat ejected from the ISS would have an initial starting mass of at least 5 kg; about 63 times greater.