Abstract Hypervelocity collisions are predicted to be the dominant space debris source in the mid-term future, when a critical spatial density of satellites is reached. The NASA Standard Satellite Breakup Model (SSBM) has been adopted by major space agencies for characterizing hypervelocity spacecraft breakups for debris environment modeling. The SSBM is an empirical model based on data from ground tests and observations of on-orbit events. We propose to enhance this database by numerical simulations including a wide range of collision conditions and complex spacecraft models. We established the software tool PHILOS-SOPHIA for systematically studying the effects of on-orbit hypervelocity collisions. A particular focus was laid on the breakup criteria of the SSBM, which defines an energy-to-mass-ratio of 40 J/g being the collision condition for catastrophic fragmentations. We simulated six different scenarios of a complex spacecraft colliding with a small satellite. In the detailed fragmentation analysis, we find both good agreements and clear deviations between the hydrocode results and the SSBM predictions. Particularly, the collision geometry strongly influences the fragmentation damage and the area-to-mass distributions. Depending on the collision vector, impacts on the outer parts of a spacecraft may result in both higher and lower fragmentation in comparison with impacts on the center of mass. The simple breakup criteria does not reflect this complexity and we recommend performing more research. Numerical simulations, thoroughly backed by advanced experiments, can make a significant contribution to improve the accuracy of breakup models.

    Highlights Collision geometry and re-impacting fragments strongly influence fragmentation effects. Grazing spacecraft collisions may result in. The standard satellite breakup model does not reflect effects of collision geometry. Numerical simulations can significantly contribute to improve standard breakup models.


    Zugriff

    Zugriff prüfen

    Verfügbarkeit in meiner Bibliothek prüfen

    Bestellung bei Subito €


    Exportieren, teilen und zitieren



    Titel :

    Numerical investigation on the standard catastrophic breakup criteria


    Beteiligte:
    Schimmerohn, Martin (Autor:in) / Matura, Pascal (Autor:in) / Watson, Erkai (Autor:in) / Durr, Nathanaël (Autor:in) / Altes, Anja (Autor:in) / Cardone, Tiziana (Autor:in) / de Wilde, Don (Autor:in) / Krag, Holger (Autor:in) / Schäfer, Frank (Autor:in)

    Erschienen in:

    Acta Astronautica ; 178 ; 265-271


    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2020-09-08


    Format / Umfang :

    7 pages




    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)


    Format :

    Elektronische Ressource


    Sprache :

    Englisch




    NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON THE STANDARD CATASTROPHIC BREAK-UP CRITERIA

    Schimmerohn, Martin / Matura, Pascal / Watson, Erkai et al. | TIBKAT | 2020


    Free flight measurements of catastrophic water drop breakup

    REINECKE, W. G. / MCKAY, W. L. | AIAA | 1976


    Numerical Investigation of Droplets Breakup in a Microfluidic T-Junction

    Bedram, A. / Moosavi, A. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2012


    INVESTIGATION OF ENVISAT CATASTROPHIC FRAGMENTATION SCENARIOS

    Olivieri, Lorenzo / Giacomuzzo, Cinzia / Duran, Cristina et al. | TIBKAT | 2022


    Numerical Studies on Droplet Breakup Models

    Kim, Y.M. | Online Contents | 1995