NOAA-17 Break-up Engineering Investigation Board Final Report

The NOAA-17 break-up was found to be a single, localized debris event producing about100 trackable pieces; there is likely no catastrophic damage to the whole spacecraft. NOAA-17 debris is very much in family with NOAA-16 debris, and DMSP F11 and F13 are very much in family with each other and share similarities with NOAA-16 and 17; it is likely all four (“The Big Four”) share the same debris source. DMSP F13 break-up occurred simultaneous with a known battery overcharge and therefore battery rupture is most likely intermediate cause of the Big Four break-ups; this is a low confidence assessment since other debris sources cannot be definitively ruled out. No root cause was found as the NOAA-17 batteries were all confirmed to have been disconnected from the charge path as intended. Possible conditions for reconnection are all unlikely including short circuits and commanding from a “bad actor.” All related spacecraft pose a risk of similar break-ups for decades to come and are a threat to the critical 800-850 km polar orbit regime; even appropriately decommissioned spacecraft appear to be at risk. Recommendations include an update to the decommissioning procedure and consideration of further investigations and active debris removal, consistent with national policy.