Speaker
Description
In recent years, the problem of space debris has reached a critical level, requiring new and continuously updated mitigation tools. It is essential to develop impact risk assessment methodologies supported by accurate physical models, enabling more reliable satellite platform design. At the same time, up-to-date environmental models are crucial to provide realistic, high-resolution risk analyses. Furthermore, the capability to analyze orbital fragmentation events within a few hours is becoming increasingly important in order to better understand failure dynamics and respond promptly to changes in the orbital environment.
In this context, the Space Debris Group of the University of Padova is working in parallel on these three topics. Thanks to a hypervelocity facility, impacts at speeds comparable to orbital velocities can be replicated on advanced materials and complex components. Based on these experiments, the group has developed the Collision Simulation Tool Solver (CSTS), an updated semi-empirical tool for simulating hypervelocity impacts and explosions of orbital objects. The software can be used both during the design phase, to study interactions with different orbital environments and optimize system performance, and after a collision event, to reconstruct the underlying dynamics.
Starting from its outputs, in fact, it is possible to transition from the local reference frame, in which the event occurs, to the orbital reference frame, thereby characterizing how the resulting debris cloud disperses around the Earth. Recent developments also include the evaluation of how spacecraft attitude at the time of impact influences the spatial distribution of the generated fragments.
Finally, the team is developing different debris sensor prototypes, both integrated into satellite platforms currently under development within student projects at the University of Padova (CubeSats and PicoSats) and through the exploration of novel sensing technologies.
| Which section would you like to submit your abstract to? | Session 4: “How space debris mitigation can adapt to the space environment?” |
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