Improving the Near-Earth Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris Environment Definition with LAD-C
- Paper number
IAC-06-B6.3.10
- Author
Dr. J.-C. Liou, ESCG/ERC, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. F. Giovane, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Robert Corsaro, United States
- Coauthor
Mr. Eugene Stansbery, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States
- Year
2006
- Abstract
The Large Area Debris Collector (LAD-C) is a 10 square-meter aerogel and acoustic sensor system designed to characterize and collect sub-millimeter micrometeoroids and orbital debris on the International Space Station (ISS). The project is led by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) with major collaboration by the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office at Johnson Space Center. The U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program (STP) is responsible for the integration, deployment, and retrieval of the system. The deployment is scheduled for August 2007 with an orbital collection period of one to two years.
The combined area-time product of LAD-C will provide a much needed orbital debris population update in the size regime that is important to the safety community - 100 µm and larger. Another key element for LAD-C is the source identification of the collected samples. Impact features such as track length and track volume can be used to estimate the impact speed and direction of any selected residual embedded in aerogel. Acoustic sensors can provide impact timing and impact location information. The combined dynamical signatures make it possible to reconstruct the orbits of some of the collected samples and lead to their source identification. Compositional analysis on the residuals can also separate debris from meteoroids and provide additional population breakdown for orbital debris (e.g., Al, paint, steel, Al2O3).
To maximize the science return and minimize potential contamination from other ISS modules, a careful selection of the location and orientation of LAD-C on the ISS is needed. Key issues and engineering constraints encountered during mission preparation, and the expected science return based on the mission configuration, are summarized in this paper.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-B6.3.10.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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