Meteoroid and orbital debris shielding on the Orbital Maneuvering VehicleNASA's Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) is being designed to withstand a 10-year lifetime in polar and low earth orbits. A large percentage of OMV's lifetime will be spent operating in the vicinity of the Space Shuttle and Space Station or in storage at these manned locations. An extensive analysis has been performed to determine the effects of the meteoroid and orbital debris environments on OMV's external fuel tanks. A finite element model of OMV was constructed using NASTRAN and analyzed with the meteoroid and debris design analysis code BUMPER. The results show that the long design lifetime, and the ever increasing man-made orbital debris environment, will require the use of shielding over the external fuel tanks.
Document ID
19890038033
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Kirkpatrick, Marc E. (TRW, Inc. TRW Space and Technology Group, Redondo Beach, CA, United States)