Orbital Debris Environment for Spacecraft Designed to Operate in Low Earth Orbit

Abstract

The orbital debris environment model contained in this report is intended to be used by the spacecraft community for the design and operation of spacecraft in low Earth orbit. This environment, when combined with material dependent impact tests and spacecraft failure analysis, is intended to be used to evaluate spacecraft vulnerability, reliability, and shielding requirements. The environment represents a compromise between existing data to measure the environment, modeling of these data to predict the future environment, the uncertainty in both measurements and modeling, and the need to describe the environment so that various options concerning spacecraft design and operations can be easily evaluated.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA339021

Entities

People

  • Donald J. Kessler
  • Phillip D. Anz-meador
  • Robert C Reynolds

Organizations

  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Altitude
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Data Analysis
  • Debris
  • Earth Orbits
  • Elliptical Orbits
  • Engineering
  • Equations
  • Failure Analysis
  • Low Earth Orbits
  • Materials
  • Meteoroids
  • Orbital Elements
  • Orbits
  • Solar System
  • Space Debris
  • Spacecraft

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Orbital Debris