DebriSat - A Planned Laboratory-Based Satellite Impact Experiment for Breakup Fragment CharacterizationsThe goal of the DebriSat project is to characterize fragments generated by a hypervelocity collision involving a modern satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO). The DebriSat project will update and expand upon the information obtained in the 1992 Satellite Orbital Debris Characterization Impact Test (SOCIT), which characterized the breakup of a 1960 s US Navy Transit satellite. There are three phases to this project: the design and fabrication of DebriSat - an engineering model representing a modern, 60-cm/50-kg class LEO satellite; conduction of a laboratory-based hypervelocity impact to catastrophically break up the satellite; and characterization of the properties of breakup fragments down to 2 mm in size. The data obtained, including fragment size, area-to-mass ratio, density, shape, material composition, optical properties, and radar cross-section distributions, will be used to supplement the DoD s and NASA s satellite breakup models to better describe the breakup outcome of a modern satellite.
Document ID
20130011792
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Liou, Jer-Chyi (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Clark, S. (Florida Univ. Gainesville, FL, United States)
Fitz-Coy, N. (Florida Univ. Gainesville, FL, United States)
Huynh, T. (Department of the Air Force El Segundo, CA, United States)
Opiela, J. (Jacobs Technologies Engineering Science Contract Group Houston, TX, United States)
Polk, M. (Department of the Air Force Arnold, AFB, TN, United States)
Roebuck, B. (Department of the Air Force Arnold, AFB, TN, United States)
Rushing, R. (Department of the Air Force Arnold, AFB, TN, United States)
Sorge, M. (Aerospace Corp. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Werremeyer, M. (Florida Univ. Gainesville, FL, United States)