Measurement Techniques for Hypervelocity Impact Test Fragments

Paper number

IAC-08.A6.3.10

Author

Mrs. Nicole Hill, NASA/JSC/ESCG/MEI, United States

Year

2008

Abstract

The ability to classify the size and shape of individual orbital debris fragments provides a better understanding of the orbital debris environment as a whole.  The characterization of breakup fragmentation debris has gradually evolved from a simplistic, spherical assumption towards that of describing debris in terms of size, material, and shape parameters.  One of the goals of the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office is to develop high-accuracy techniques to measure these parameters and apply them to orbital debris observations.

Measurement of the physical characteristics of debris resulting from ground-based, hypervelocity impact testing provides insight into the shapes and sizes of debris produced from potential impacts in orbit.  Current techniques for measuring these ground-test fragments require determination of dimensions based upon visual judgment.  This leads to reduced accuracy and provides little or no repeatability for the measurements.  With the common goal of mitigating these error sources, allaying any misunderstandings, and moving forward in fragment shape determination, the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office recently began using a computerized measurement system.  The goal of using these new techniques is to improve knowledge of the relation between commonly used dimensions and overall shape.  The immediate objective is to scan a single fragment, measure its size and shape properties, and import the fragment into a program that renders a 3D model that adequately demonstrates how the object could appear in orbit.  This information would then be used to aid optical methods in orbital debris shape determination.

This paper provides a description of the measurement techniques used in this initiative and shows results of this work.  The tradeoffs of the computerized methods are discussed, as well as the means of repeatability in the measurements of these fragments.  This paper serves as a general description of methods for the measurement and shape analysis of orbital debris.

Abstract document

IAC-08.A6.3.10.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-08.A6.3.10.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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