CERAMIC SHIELDS FOR SATELLITE PROTECTION AGAINST HYPERVELOCITY IMPACT

PHASE I IS A PILOT STUDY, THE OBJECTIVE OF WHICH IS TO EXPLORE THE APPLICATION OF STRUCTURAL CERAMICS IN STAND-OFF SHIELDS AGAINST HYPERVELOCITY IMPACT. FOR THIS PURPOSE, SEVERAL PRELIMINARY SHIELD DESIGNS WILL BE CONSIDERED. EACH DESIGN WILL BE MODELED NUMERICALLY, AND COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OF A SUITE OF HYPERVELOCITY IMPACT EVENTS WILL BE PERFORMED IN AN EFFORT TO ASSESS SHIELD PERFORMANCE. THESE COMPUTER SIMULATIONS WILL BE BASED UPON AN ADVANCED PHYSICALLY-BASED MODEL OF CERAMICS WHICH WAS RECENTLY DEVELOPED BY TRANS-SCIENCE CORPORATION FOR APPLICATION TO ARMOR/ANTI-ARMOR PROBLEMS. SHIELD EFFECTIVENESS WILL BE MEASURED AGAINST THE PERFORMANCE OF STANDARD ALUMINUM STAND-OFF SHIELDS. THE ADVANTAGES OF CERAMIC-BASED SHIELDS WILL BE DELINEATED AND A CANDIDATE DESIGN WILL BE SELECTED FOR A MORE DETAILED THEORETICAL/EXPERIMENTAL STUDY IN PHASE II. STAND-OFF SHIELD FOR ALL LONG-TERM SPACECRAFT/SATELLITES.