Paul M. Adams, The Aerospace Corporation, Patti M. Sheaffer, The Aerospace Corporation, Zachary Lingley, The Aerospace Corporation, Gouri Radhakrishnan, The Aerospace Corporation
Keywords: Hypervelocity impact, albedo, DebriSat
Abstract:
The DebriSat program consisted of 3 hypervelocity impact tests conducted in 2 Torr of air with 7 km/s, 600 g aluminum projectiles. In the first test, Pre Preshot, the target consisted of multiple layers of fiberglass, stainless steel and Kevlar fabric. No soft catch foam was used. The subsequent two tests, DebrisLV and DebriSat, were designed to simulate hypervelocity impacts with a launch vehicle upper stage and a modern LEO satellite, respectively. The interior of the chamber was lined with soft catch foam to trap break-up fragments. In all three tests, witness plates were placed near the target to sample impact debris and determine its reflectance, composition and spectral properties. Reflectance measurements are important for calculating the size of orbital hypervelocity impact fragments.
Date of Conference: September 19-22, 2017
Track: Poster