Modelling of collision of Space Debris: Collision Geometries

Paper number

IAC-09.A6.P.8

Author

Ms. Fatoumata Kebe, Université de Paris VI, France

Coauthor

Mrs. Feriel Gafari, France

Coauthor

Ms. emma martin, INSA, France

Year

2009

Abstract

According to Mister Meshishnek from the Aerospace Corporation a “space debris” is a component of the space environment that is man-made pollution. 
It exists at all inclinations and, primarily, at altitudes of roughly 350 km to 2000 km. The size of this debris ranges from several meters to a fraction of a micrometer in diameter, and the particle distribution follows an inverse power law, with the smaller size component far exceeding that of the larger. Debris is composed primarily of alumina from solid rocket motor exhausts, aluminum from spacecraft structures, and zinc and titanium oxides from thermal control coatings.

The vast majority of the space debris with a diameter superior to 10cm are residing on near-circular orbits. This also applies to the majority of space debris objects at risk-relevants sizes d>1mm. Moreover, even in the case of eccentric orbits, a collision between a target object and a member of the space debris population is in general most likely to occur at locations of highest resident probability. This would be at the apocenter, where the orbit velocity vector is parallel to the local horizontal plane. Hence, collision geometries within the quasi-horizontal plane are of particular importance. 

We will illustrate the case of a collision within the horizontal plane, where the velocity  vt=|vt| of the target object is smaller than the velocity vd of the debris object. First of all, we supposed that the “debris medium” were at rest and then define his impact on the target. Then, since the debris objects are also in motion, with an absolute velocity of vd>vt, two extreme cases can be identified: a head-on collision and a tail-on collision.

We will show another collision scenario where the target velocity vt is larger than the debris velocity vd. In this case, the maximum and minimum impact velocities are again aligned with the target velocity vector, but now the lowest approach speed is produced in a head-on collision.

Abstract document

IAC-09.A6.P.8.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-09.A6.P.8.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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