Space environment threats and their impact on spacecrafts in Near Earth Orbits
- Paper number
IAC-06-D5.2.01
- Author
Mr. Alexandre Nicolas, Corona Space Surveillance Centre, Canada
- Coauthor
Mr. Shahram Ariafar, Norway
- Year
2006
- Abstract
Though space activities are known to be risky, space is a harsh environment and the human space activities have increased the threat in near earth orbits. From the natural space environment to the debris, there is a growing threat to the safety of access to, and use of, space. Natural space environment threats include radiation surges caused by solar flares which can: damage on-board satellite microchips, interrupt short-wave radio transmissions, and cause errors in navigation systems. Measures to mitigate solar radiation effects are important for the safety of space operations. Specific to near earth space activities are debris, above 600 kilometers they will remain a threat for a long time (decades or centuries). There have already been a number of highly destructive and costly incidents involving space debris collisions with civil, commercial, and military spacecrafts. It is clear that the consequences of collisions between space debris and spacecraft can be disastrous (e.g. The Space Shuttle has been hit several times; French, Russian and American satellites have been damaged; the Long Duration Exposure Facility, a school-bus-sized satellite, recorded more than 30000 impacts by debris or meteoroids during six years in orbit). While major collisions have so far been rare, there have been several incidents of varying severity motivating the protection against space debris. It is also important to note that at least three spacecrafts were damaged by solar flare events in the last three years. Understanding the risks related to the space environment is essential to insure the quality, reliability, efficiency and safety of space programs. After outlining the space environment components (space debris, solar flairs, etc.), their influence on the spacecrafts will be studied. Followed, is the classification of the threats according to their severity and likelihood of occurrence. The last combined with a status about the evolution of: (1) each threat and (2) the space activities; allows a better view of the situation. Will follow an analysis that reveals the main threats on which a mitigation plan should be developed to minimize or prevent their effect on space activities. This paper will review and discuss the risks associated to the space environment and outline a strategy to mitigate their effect on space programs, in order to insure a minimum safety standard for the growing number of space activities.
- Abstract document