Alice Horbachova, Odesa I.I.Mechnikov National University; Oleksandr Bazyey, Odessa I.I.Mechnikov National University
Keywords: space debris, relative accelerations, space vehicles, GEO orbit region, numerical integration of the equations of motion
Abstract:
In recent years, the probability of future fragmentation of almost all the disposal stages of rockets and engines left in orbit, and the further evolution of their orbits, has been of increasing concern. After all, the vast majority of them were left with the fuel. Cases of fragmentation of such objects are already known. [1] According to research [2], spent rocket bodies left on burial orbits will cross the orbits of active satellites if their fragmentation occurs. In turn, fragments of space debris with such orbits pose a potential threat to operating satellites in the GEO orbit region. Therefore, there is a need to study the features of the environment of space debris in the vicinity of the orbits of such objects. According to [3], for such calculations, it is possible to consider the movement of fragments of space debris relative to the satellite in its vicinity. Thus, the vector difference between, for example, the gravitational acceleration experienced by fragment from Earth and the gravitational acceleration experienced by satellite from Earth will be the relative acceleration. Thus, the relative movement of the fragment in the vicinity of the satellite occurs under the influence of relative accelerations. Such an approach allows constructing the total distribution in space of relative accelerations acting on test points in the vicinity of the satellite’s orbit from various sources. Calculations are performed in the approximation of the geocentric problem of five bodies: the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, the spacecraft and the test point. Perturbation accelerations from the asymmetry of the Earth’s gravitational field are taken into account. The problem is solved numerically by the Everhart method of the 15th order in Cartesian coordinates. As a result, certain regularities in the distribution of relative accelerations in the vicinity of the satellite in the area of GEO orbits were identified.
ESA–Space Debris User Portal.
Dr. Kim Luu and Dr. Chris Sabol. Effects of perturbations on space debris in supersynchronous storage orbits. AFRL/VSSS. October 1998.
Howard D. Curtis. Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students. Butterworth-Heinemann. Vol. 3. January 2014.
Date of Conference: September 19-22, 2023
Track: Space Debris