Technical and legal issues surrounding space debris—India's position in the UN
Abstract This article briefly presents the historical background, as seen by ISRO and India, to the growing problem of space debris. It describes the technical aspects of ISRO's activities in the field of space debris, and the grey areas in technical understanding, which may impede legal discussions. Analysis of the cost and technical aspects of reorbiting satellites from geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) is detailed, since this is an important area for India and other developing countries. The article also briefly describes ISRO's views of the applicability and relevance of the existing space treaties to a possible future legal regime for space debris. Debates are currently taking place in the UN and other multilateral fora on the subject of space debris and the situation is dynamic. The main aim of this article is to inform readers of ISRO's and India's position in the UN on the subject of space debris, in terms of its technical, political and legal aspects. Certain issues of importance from the legal point of view, though not of immediate urgency, are also discussed.
Space debris, remarks on current legal issues
A legal definition of space debris must take into consideration its consequences on the legal status of the object. For the purpose of mitigation of space debris at the time of the launch, any object launched in outer pace will turn sooner or later into a space debris. For liability purposes, a definition of a "space object " is more useful that the notion of "space debris". It must be sure that every space debris is considered as a space objet according to the liability convention. At the end and certainly a more difficult issue is the qualification of a space object as a space debris when it will be technically feasible to remove it. The question of the property of the debris or object should be important.
ELECTROMAGNETIC DESIGN OF A RADIO FREQUENCY QUADRUPOLE FOR THE FRONT END TEST STAND AT RAL
The goal of the RAL front end test stand is to demonstrate cleanly chopped bunches of a 60mA H − ion beam at 3MeV. The acceleration of the H − ions from 65keV to 3MeV will be done using a radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) operating at a resonant frequency of 324MHz. The two types of RFQ considered were a 4-vane and a 4-rod. The 4-vane has a higher Q-value but the post-production adjustment is limited. The 4-rod design is easier to manufacture but requires complicated cooling at 324MHz. The results of electromagnetic simulations using CST Microwave Studio are presented for the 4-vane type and 4-rod type RFQ.