While DebriSat is an engineering model, specific attention is being placed on the quality, type, and quantity of the materials used in its fabrication to ensure the integrity of the destructive outcome. This study identified modern trends in hardware, material, and construction practices utilized in recent LEO missions. To put DebriSat together, a wide-ranging study was done of past low-Earth orbit satellite designs and missions within the last 15 years for spacecraft ranging from one kilogram to 5,000 kilograms (2.2 pounds to 11,023 pounds). 'As new materials and new construction techniques are developed for modern satellites, there is a need to conduct additional laboratory-based tests and use the new data to further enhance the breakup models,' Liou said.Ī University of Florida team is designing and fabricating DebriSat for its eventual demise. Present day satellites incorporate many different technologies and materials than spacecraft designed over 40 years ago. Navy Transit satellite built in the 1960s. In one SOCIT ground experiment in 1992, the target was a flight-ready U.S. One of the key experiments supporting the development of the NASA and DoD satellite breakup models was called SOCIT, short for Satellite Orbital debris Characterization Impact Test series. Liou pointed out that the Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA have conducted quite a few laboratory-based impact tests in the past. 'Laboratory-based experiments are necessary to collect data for smaller debris,' he said.Īs a modern satellite target, obliterating DebriSat is expected to improve the NASA standard satellite breakup model. But the SSN data are limited to 10-centimeter (4 inches) and larger objects. Space Surveillance Network (SSN) observations. Some of the distributions for 'large' fragments can be obtained from the U.S. Those appraisals deal with debris as small as 1 millimeter for critical space assets and for good orbital debris environment definition, Liou said. Therefore, he said, a high fidelity breakup model describing the outcome of a satellite collision - in terms of the fragment size, mass, area-to-mass ratio, shape, and composition distributions - is needed for reliable short- and long-term impact risk assessments. 'Collision fragments are expected to dominate the future orbital debris environment,' Liou told.

Liou of NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office. ĭata gleaned from demolishing DebriSat will be valuable in the short- and long-term, said J. The NASA Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston is leading the effort. NASA and the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center are co-sponsors of DebriSat.

Boom beach life fragment