Development of in-situ Space Debris Detector

Abstract

Due to high relative velocities, collisions of spacecraft in orbit with Space Debris (SD) or Micrometeoroids (MM) lead to payload degradation, anomalies or failures in spacecraft operation, or even to loss of a whole mission. Flux models and impact risk assessment tools, such as MASTER or ORDEM, and ESABASE2 or BUMPER II, are used to analyse the mission risk concerning this hazard potential. The validation of the ux models is based on SD and MM impact data from in-situ impact detectors; e.g. DEBIE, GORID and capture cells; and on the analysis of retrieved hardware from space; e.g. LDEF, HST or EURECA. However, the knowledge about the population of small (millimeter down to micron sized) objects in space is limited, and needs to be enhanced for reliable models. This paper provides an overview and assessment of SD and MM impact detectors and proposes an innovative detection concept, which utilises existing spacecraft components for detection purposes. The detector concept would be an active large area sensor and could be own in any orbit.