What steps can be taken to protect spacecraft from space debris? This is what a paper presented at the 2024 17th Hypervelocity Impact Symposium hopes to address as a team of researchers from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) investigated a novel micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) detection system. This study has the potential to help scientists and engineers develop more robust spacecraft in a time when space debris is becoming a growing concern.
For the study, the researchers used a combination of computer models and laboratory experiments, the latter of which involved firing projectiles into the metal plates that comprised the MMOD system. The goal of the study was to ascertain the capabilities of this new system and how it can protect spacecraft from space debris. In the end, the researchers found that the data could help future spacecraft detect incoming debris.
Credit: Southwest Research Institute
“While not every aspect of the space environment can be replicated, our tests create realistic particle impacts,” said Dr. Sidney Chocron, who is a SwRI Institute Scientist and lead author of the study. “This helps determine whether structures can withstand such collisions. It also allows us to evaluate the efficacy of the MMOD detection and characterization system, which can detect when and where impacts occur as well as the speed and composition of the debris involved.”
The researchers aspire to obtain funding for real-world tests on an actual spacecraft that builds upon the data obtained from the computer models and laboratory experiments. This study comes as the estimated amount of space debris larger than 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) is approximately 36,500, with the number of space debris between 1 to 10 centimeters being more than one million.
How will this new MMOD detection method help protect spacecraft from space debris in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: 2024 17th Hypervelocity Impact Symposium, EurekAlert!
