HVI-TEST SETUP OF IN-SITU SPACE DEBRIS DETECTOR

Abstract

Collisions of spacecraft in orbit with Space Debris (SD) or Micro-Meteoroids (MM) lead to payload degradation, anomalies or failures in spacecraft operation or even to loss of a whole mission. Existing flux models and impact risk assessment tools, like MASTER or ORDEM, PIRAT, ESABASE2 and BUMPER II are used to analyze the mission risk concerning this hazard potential. The validation of the flux models so far is partly based on SD and MM impact data from in-situ impact detectors, e.g. DEBIE, GORID, capture cells and on the analyses of retrieved hardware from space, e.g. LDEF, HST or EURECA. However the knowledge on the small objects populations (millimeter down to micron sized) in space is rather limited and needs to be enhanced for reliable models. As a contribution Deto soft-ware validation in terms of data acquisition, a new type of impact detector is currently under development at DLR. The Solar Generator based Space Debris Impact Detector (SOLID) makes use of spacecraft solar panels and there-fore offers a large sensor area and high flexibility regarding the orbit. This paper presents the impact detector design as well as the Hyper-Velocity-Impact (HVI) test setup, foreseen for corresponding tests at the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed-Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut (EMI) in Freiburg, Germany.