Conceptual Design for a Space Debris Orbital Recycling Station Utilizing MBSE Approach

Space debris is a growing concern for human space activities. However, many of the larger debris are retired or defunct spacecraft with parts that can potentially be repurposed or recycled. We propose a space debris recycling architecture that includes an on-orbit recycling facility named the Recycling Hub and Base (ReHAB). This paper attempts to systematically address the conceptual design of ReHAB, which is a unique and specialized space station that simultaneously needs to perform operations associated with on-orbit recycling, servicing, and manufacturing. Using a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach, we identified stakeholder expectations, developed the system requirements, and extracted seven design principles, which were used to construct a decision matrix for evaluating candidate station module geometries. Out of four candidate geometries, the truncated octahedron shape emerged as the most feasible option. The station configuration, which includes the number, types, and arrangements of different modules, was derived from the essential station operations and the expected functionalities for ReHAB. A baseline configuration and a few other options have been identified in this paper, and our next step is to select the most appropriate configuration using Systems Engineering tools.