Analysis of the Business Case for an On-orbit Space Debris Recycling Facility

Space debris is gradually becoming an impediment to human space activities by threatening to damage other operational orbital assets. Another area of space technology that has received extensive attention in the last few years is on-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (OSAM). In this paper, "Space Junk Aggregation, Neutralization, In-situ Transformation, and Orbital Recycling," i.e., "Space JANITOR" has been proposed as a novel concept for in-space recycling of orbital debris, and the business case for this concept has been analyzed. The primary operations of Space JANITOR include capturing debris, transporting them to a modular space station to recycle the parts and materials, and eventually supplying them to OSAM facilities. This paper provides an overview of the architecture, the phases of deployment, the operations involved in each phase, and the stakeholders associated with the architecture. We then build a qualitative system dynamics model to investigate the combination of decision variables required for Space JANITOR to generate sufficient revenue and become financially self-sustaining. Our results highlight the impact of factors like the level of activities in space and policies to incentivize proactive debris mitigation on the viability of the debris recycling industry. A deeper investigation into these factors can provide more insight into the economic feasibility of space-based recycling and guide potential stakeholders on policy decisions and financial investments.