Laser ablation induced impulse study for removal of space debris mission using small satellite

Abstract In recent years, many plans have arisen for building constellations in low Earth orbit, some of which have already provided commercial services. The number of satellites that form these constellations will exceed $$10^4$$, and a number of these could become space debris due to accidental failure, leading to serious problems for human activities in space. Laser ablation-induced propulsion achieved by remote irradiation from the service spacecraft has been proposed as one effective method to remove such space debris and it involves effectively generating a propulsion impulse from a laser. Because most of the high-power lasers currently utilized in space applications are Nd:YAG lasers, in this study, we evaluate the characteristics of second harmonic generation (SHG), which can be generated using nonlinear crystals. The momentum coupling coefficient may be dependent on the irradiated laser wave length which has a significant difference in the ablation process such as plasma generation and heating. These effects have been investigated using an impulse measurement instrumental setup with a KD*P nonlinear crystal. As an efficient impulse generation method, the irradiation of the fundamental and SHG beams of the Nd:YAG laser at the same point was found to be more effective than the fundamental beam with the same total energy. SHG does not require additional power-consuming equipment such as additional exciters or amplifiers, but requite temperature-controlled nonlinear crystals, and impulses can be increased with minimal additional power. It turned out to be advantageous for space applications, which will require minimum power operation . Additionally, we found an additional nonlinear laser-induced impulses through the interaction of the beams.