In Situ Algorithm for Orbital Debris Characterization

Millimeter sized orbital debris is effectively outside the range of current tracking capabilities which means the data being used to assess and mitigate risk is significantly lacking -- specifically for the small to medium sized debris population.nbsp; The need for better methods and techniques to characterize the existing and future debris field outside the range of remote sensors was highlighted by the National Academy of Sciences in 2011:nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;quot;The medium size range, approximately 5 mm to 10 cm for orbital debris, is the most difficult to characterize, with only episodic radar measurement campaigns contributing to knowledge of the environment, yet the risk (probability of collision times consequence) may be the greatest in this size range. Undoubtedly,nbsp; impacts with debris in the medium size range should be occurring much more often than collisions between trackable objects...quot;There are an unknown but likely very large number of satellites currently in orbit that have been struck by small to medium size orbital debris, survived with no major degradation in performance, but nevertheless registered the anomalous dynamic perturbation event in their control system data stream.nbsp; We are seeking funding to productize a new type of algorithm that exploits these preturbation anomalies and can be loaded in situ on new and existing satellites to characterize the small to medium debris environment.Our algorithm can be placed on satellites designed, built, and deployed specifically to characterize the debris environment, or, existing satellites that are in orbit for other purposes but contain basic information about the satellite#39;s movement.nbsp; Unlike any in situ capability now available, the algorithm proposed here can provide low cost accurate estimates of important debris environment characteristics such as impact velocity, density, and associated satellite damage.