Over the past six decades, the near Earth environment of space has changed dramatically, from one traversed only by naturally occurring meteoroids and micrometeoroids (MM s), to one that is populated by thousands of artificial satellites dedicated to communications, navigation and the collection of Earth observation and astronomical data. Although around 1,200 operational satellites...
The Austrian Space Forum, in cooperation with SPIRE Inc and FINDUS Venture Inc., is developing ADLER-1, a 3U cubesat to be flown in late 2021 to measure small space debris particles at ca 500 km altitude. Two instruments are implemented: Firstly, APID (Austrian Particle Impact Detector), a deployable piezoelectric detector array, able to measure particles in the range of down to ca 10...
Since the beginning of the space age in 1957, numerous artificial objects have accumulated in orbits around the Earth. While a portion of the defunct objects are large enough to be tracked by surveillance networks, the vast majority is non-trackable debris. Within the past decades, several models have been developed, aiming at modelling the ever-changing space debris and meteoroid environment....
The newest version of NASA’s Orbital Debris Engineering Model, ORDEM 3.1, incorporates the latest and highest fidelity datasets available to build and validate representative orbital debris populations encompassing low Earth orbit (LEO) to geosynchronous orbit (GEO) altitudes for the years 2016-2050. Observational datasets used for building model populations include those from the U.S. Space...
The exploration and utilisation of space is affecting the environment in the vicinity of the Earth. The remains of space missions reach from paint flakes detached due to ageing to “dead” satellites and upper stages. These remains are called space debris and have more and more increasing effects on space-faring activities. Consequently, the space debris environment needs to be considered during...
Launched in 2008, the Columbus module of the International Space Station (ISS) has by now been exposed for more than 10 years to fluxes from micrometeoroids and space debris particles. Numerous impact craters are present on its outer surfaces. A group of researchers from various German entities has initiated an impact survey of outer surfaces of the Columbus module. Such a survey was supported...
Due to their high velocity, micrometeoroids and small orbital debris (MMOD) represent a threat to the spacecraft or its components. Moreover, the amount of debris in space is continuously increasing. It is thus necessary to assess the probability of spacecraft damage or failure due to a MMOD impact during its mission lifetime. The aim of a risk assessment is to identify the SC components...
In recent years, several metrics have been proposed to quantify the impact of a mission on the space debris environment. These emerging approaches are meant to go beyond the analysis of compliance of missions with space debris mitigation guidelines, by considering additional aspects such the short-term impact of a mission on its neighbours and the evolution of the environment.
Our...
MASTER and ARES are used in the preparation of operational collision avoidance support. Specifically, two tasks are addressed: a) Determination of the probability of collision threshold above which a manoeuvre is initiated. b) Defining of feasible avoidance manoeuvres, given realistic encounter scenarios. The use of these tools is exemplified based on the two HEO missions INTEGRAL (2002-048A)...
Hypervelocity impacts of man-made and/or natural microparticles pose a significant environmental hazard to any space systems. Therefore, a detailed assessment of the impact risk sustained in a particular environment (e.g. LEO, GEO, interplanetary) over the mission duration needs to performed during the design phase of the space system.
Due to the high complexity of the risk and damage...
A major aspect in the upgrade towards MASTER-8 was to come up with a functionality to assess flux uncertainties for the artificial space debris. The methodology is based on the comparison between measurements and the model output, expressed via the error-ratio. Depending on that ratio it was possible to have certain metrics defined for the first time in MASTER's validation process that go...
In the context of the increasingly important discussion about environmental protection on Earth, the environmental protection of space is also a developing field of research. During the last years, the discussion about a sustainable use of the limited resource of space has increased and is getting even more important when looking at the sophisticated plans of some stakeholders, e.g. SpaceX and...
Space environmental models are required for mission planning, orbit design, collision –avoidance-manoeuvre planning, and space sustainability ratings. Generally, the distribution of debris objects and micro-meteorites is modelled statistically and calibrated empirically, requiring re-calibration and validation at regular intervals.
The MASTER model provides flux estimates of orbiting...
Debris Mitigation Facility (DMF) is a stream of activities procured by ESA, to provide a single set of software and procedures to perform space debris mitigation related analyses. The development of DMF is stated building on existing Space Debris Tools from ESA, such as MASTER and DRAMA, but re-invents their usability: Whereas up to now, each tool is self-standing which runs independently, DMF...
"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it is about the future", yet this is exactly the reality we face when we want to build the missions of tomorrow against the design requirements and licence requirements of today. Impact risks and the associated uncertainties in the untracked regime, caused by the uncertainties on the future launch traffic and adherence rates to space debris...
Space debris appears on the verge of triggering broader political and public debates on sustainable conduct in outer space. Simultaneously, the space sector undergoes profound transformations towards the paradigm of NewSpace – further strengthening its socioeconomic impact.
Both processes are interdependent and raise the question of society’s future role in spaceflight activities. Social...
