HIT Students' Final Project Published as Scientific Paper

The students Assaf Shaked and Niv Cohen from the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering published, under the guidance of Prof. Yakov Gavan, a review article on space debris in the journal 'Electricity and Energy'

The students, who completed their studies in 2024 at HIT's Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, chose to focus on space for their final project, under the guidance of Prof. Yakov Gavan. Their article, "Space Debris - A Growing Problem," will be published in the journal 'Electricity and Energy' of the Association of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Israel. "This is not a standard final project," says Niv, who currently works at the satellite company AST SpaceMobile. "It's not taken for granted that undergraduate students publish an article, and we were very happy when Prof. Gavan suggested it. We saw it as an opportunity and a challenge."

Prof. Gavan, an international expert in wireless systems and an IEEE Fellow, who was the first Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at HIT, currently focuses on multinational projects involving energy transfer from satellites to Earth. He invited the two students when they participated in his 'Satellite and Space Communication' course. Prof. Gavan believes that humanity's future lies in space and explains the importance of the article's topic: "The pollution in space around Earth is worse than ocean pollution. Tens of thousands of satellites are already moving in space, with new ones constantly being added. Even satellites that have ceased to function continue to orbit Earth. Space is full of human-made waste: decommissioned satellites and nanosatellites, and fragments of spacecraft and launchers. The debris creates an increasing danger of accidents and collisions in space, and each collision causes breakups that produce additional debris."

As part of the project, Assaf Shaked and Niv Cohen conducted a comprehensive review of existing literature on accumulating space debris, primarily in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), its dangers, as well as technological and regulatory efforts to address the problem. They collected, read, and processed extensive material from the internet and HIT's library and interviewed experts in the field. With Prof. Gavan's support, the students participated in the international space conference held at Tel Aviv University.

Among the solutions presented in the article: designing satellites that will disintegrate in a controlled manner, using biodegradable materials and reusable launchers alongside monitoring and regulation for responsible management of space debris to prevent the creation of new waste. Additionally, solutions are presented for reducing existing debris, such as nets and magnets to capture and remove fragments and particles, robots to repair satellites and return them to operation, and methods to divert debris from its orbit so it burns up in the atmosphere.

"When I started studying at HIT, I was looking for the most extreme thing one could do with an engineering degree, maybe become an astronaut – and even if I couldn't succeed at that, then definitely to work in space..." says Assaf. "Space is the most researched and intriguing field today. Six hundred years ago, a few brave individuals dared to go out into the world and explore new continents, and our generation's responsibility is to explore space." During his degree, Assaf focused on the space field and currently works at ELTA Systems, part of Israel Aerospace Industries. In his free time, he teaches children about space as a mentor on behalf of the Ramon Foundation in his hometown of Sderot. In the next academic year, he will begin his master's degree at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. According to him, the publication of the article helped him get accepted into this prestigious program.

In the early stages of the final project, a preliminary article about the research was published in the June 2024 edition of the Israeli technology newspaper "New-Tech Magazine". The new and complete article by Prof. Gavan and the two students is being published in the journal 'Electricity and Energy' in two parts: the first part deals with the background of the space debris problem and solutions to prevent future debris, while the second focuses on methods for active removal of existing debris from space. The article will soon be translated into English with the aim of publishing it in an international journal.