As a result of recent National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Management Instruction (NMI), NASA spacecraft programs must limit orbital debris by design and/or by operational procedures. To fulfill this requirement, spacecraft may be required to be removed from their operational orbit after mission completion. Spacecraft disposal by atmospheric reentry is a means to accomplish this task. To assess the risk to man, an analysis must be done to determine which parts of the spacecraft are likely to survive a reentry of the Earth's atmosphere and where those parts will land. These issues are currently being examined for the Earth Observing System (EOS-AM1). The Johnson Space Center (JSC) Aeroscience Branch, supported by the Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Co., has developed a tool which permits the analysis of the thermal effects of reentry on individual spacecraft components to determine which components are expected to survive reentry. This paper presents an examination of the burnup and reentry of EOS-AM1 and describes a method for other spacecraft to use in analyzing similar reentry issues.
Reentry analysis for low Earth orbiting spacecraft
1993-01-01
Conference paper
No indication
English
Reentry Analysis for Low Earth Orbiting Spacecraft (AAS 93-307)
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