A strategy for the analysis of active debris removal missions targeting multiple objects from a set of objects in near-circular orbit with similar inclination is presented. Algebraic techniques successfully reduce the orbital mechanics regarding specific inter-debris transfer and disposal methods to simple computations, which can be used as the coefficients of a quadratic unconstrained binary optimisation (QUBO) problem formulation which minimises the total propellant used in the mission whilst allowing for servicing time and meeting the mission deadline. The QUBO is validated by solving artificial small problems (from 2 to 11 debris) using classical computational methods and the weaknesses in using these methods are examined prior to solution using quantum annealing hardware. The quantum processing unit (QPU) and quantum-classical hybrid solvers provided by D-Wave are then used to solve the same small problems, with attention paid to evident strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Hybrid solvers are found to be significantly more effective at solving larger problems. Finally, the hybrid method is used to solve a large problem using a real dataset. From a set of 79 debris objects resulting from the destruction of the Kosmos-1408 satellite, an active debris removal mission starting on 30 September 2023 targeting 5 debris objects for disposal within a year with 20 days servicing time per object is successfully planned. This plan calculates the total propellant cost of transfer and disposal to be 0.87km/s and would be complete well within the deadline at 241 days from the start date. This problem uses 6,478 binary variables in total and is solved using around 25s of QPU access time.

翻译：提出了一种针对近圆轨道、倾角相近的多目标主动碎片清除任务分析策略。代数技术成功将特定碎片间转移与处置方法相关的轨道力学简化为简单计算，这些计算可作为二次无约束二元优化（QUBO）问题公式的系数，在满足服务时间及任务期限的同时最小化任务消耗的总推进剂。通过经典计算方法求解人工小规模问题（2至11个碎片），验证了QUBO的有效性，并在使用量子退火硬件求解前检验了经典方法的局限性。随后采用D-Wave提供的量子处理单元（QPU）及量子-经典混合求解器求解相同小规模问题，重点关注各方法的显著优势与不足。研究发现混合求解器在求解较大问题时效率显著更高。最终，基于真实数据集使用混合方法求解大规模问题：针对宇宙-1408卫星解体产生的79个碎片目标，成功规划了一项始于2023年9月30日的主动碎片清除任务，该任务需在一年内处置5个碎片，每个碎片服务时间为20天。计划计算出的转移与处置总推进剂成本为0.87公里/秒，且将在截止日期前（距起始日241天）完成。该问题共使用6,478个二元变量，求解耗时约25秒的QPU访问时间。