Orbital debris sweeper and method

An orbital debris sweeper is provided for removing particles from orbit which otherwise may impact and damage an orbiting spacecraft. The debris sweeper includes a central sweeper core which carries a debris monitoring unit, and a plurality of large area impact panels rotatable about a central sweeper rotational axis. In response to information from the debris monitoring unit, a computer determines whether individual monitored particles preferably impact one of the rotating panels or pass between the rotating panels. A control unit extends or retracts one or more booms which interconnect the sweeper core and the panels to change the moment of inertia of the sweeper and thereby the rotational velocity of the rotating panels. According to the method of the present invention, the change in panel rotational velocity increases the frequency of particles which desirably impact one of the panels and are thereby removed from orbit, while large particles which may damage the impact panels pass between the trailing edge of one panel and the leading edge of the rotationally succeeding panel.