STATISTICAL DATA FOR ORBITAL DEBRIS: A MMWIR CONCEPT FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT

SPACE VEHICLES, PARTICULARLY LONG DURATION EARTH ORBITING MISSIONS SUCH AS SPACE STATION, ARE VULNERABLE TO HYPERVELOCITY IMPACTS FROM SPACE DEBRIS. THE SPACE DEBRIS POPULATION IS INCREASING STEADILY AND IT IS IMPORTANT TO MODEL THE ENVIRONMENT TO INSURE THAT THE RISK OF IMPACE WITH SPACE VEHICLES FALLS WITHIN ACCEPTABLE LIMITS. SINCE PREDICTIONS OF THE FUTURE ORBITAL DEBRIS ENVIRONMENT ARE BASED, IN PART, ON THE CURRENT POPULATION. IT IS IMPORTANT TO MAKE MEASUREMENTS TO RELIABLY ESTIMATE THIS POPULATION. THE MILLIMETER WAVE IMAGING RADAR (MMWIR) HAS THE POTENTIAL FOR PROVIDING DATA TO STATISTICALLY CHARACTERIZE THE DEBRIS POPULATION. XON-TECH PROPOSES TO CONDUCT A STUDY TO DEVELOP CONCEPTS FOR MODIFYING THE MMWIR TO COLLECT ORBITAL DEBRIS DATA. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY ARE: 1) DEFINE REQUIREMENTS FOR SMALL OBJECT ORBITAL DEBRIS COLLECTION, 2) EVALUATE CURRENT AND PLANNED MMWIR CAPABILITY TO MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS, 3) EXAMINE ALTERNATIVE FOR MMWIR HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE MODIFICATIONS, AS WELL AS REAL-TIME DATA PROCESSING AND RECORDING REQUIREMENTS AND CONCEPTS FOR POST-MISSION ANALYSIS. 4) EVALUATE THE RELATIVE MERIT AND FEASIBILITY OF IMPLEMENTATION OF EACH ALTERNATIVE AND PROVIDE THE RATIONAL AND DATA BASE NECESSARY FOR DEVELOPING UPGRADE SPECIFICATIONS DURING THE PHASE II STUDY.