Abstract <p>Space debris contactless transportation by the plume of an electric engine of an active spacecraft is one of the promising methods of space debris removal. The ion beam generated by this engine slows down the space debris object. However, the removal process can last several months, since the ion force is tens of millinewtons. The ion force is also affected by the position of the object relative to its center of mass. These factors complicate the process of numerical integration of the space debris equations of motion. Approximate equations of motion of the space debris object’s center of mass, the numerical integration of which requires less computational costs compared to the initial equations, are developed in this paper based on the Gauss equations in oscillating variables and the Volosov averaging method.</p>