Lethal collisions and the impact on the design of a European Space Situational Awareness system
- Paper number
IAC-11,A6,2,12,x9353
- Author
Mr. Timothy Newman, European Space Agency (ESA), Spain
- Year
2011
- Abstract
The Space Situational Awareness (SSA) precursor programme is an initiative within Europe to provide independent information and services regarding the environment, threats (man-made as well as natural) and sustainable exploitation of the region of space surrounding planet Earth. The Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) segment of this programme intends to provide assistance and protection to active satellites orbiting the Earth. This paper investigates the definition of lethality in the context of spacecraft protection in a non-idealised space environment. During the elaboration of the design drivers for the SST segment of the SSA programme, a model of what constitutes a lethal collision for an active satellite needs to be developed. A lethal collision is one which will result in the inability of a satellite to meet its mission goals. This paper presents the derivation of a generally accepted model of how the probability of a lethal collision varies according to key parameters.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)