Safety Concept of Proximity Operations in Low Earth Orbit: The SpEye CubeSat Mission

In-space proximity operations are a key enabling technology for future In-Orbit Servicing (IOS) and debris removal missions, which are essential to foster a sustainable and circular space economy. A key feature to design and validate the proximity operations is the safety concept of the close-range flight, which manages the monitoring of the safe operations and is in charge of mitigation of any contingency that can occur and cause a unwanted collision between the two satellites. This paper describes the safety concept philosophy for the SpEye mission, a CubeSat demonstrator of proximity operations funded by the Italian Space Agency through the Alcor programme.