Sven Kevin Flegel

Identification of Solid Rocket Motor Retro-Burns in the LDEF IDE Impact Data

The Interplanetary Dust Experiment (IDE) carried by the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) satellite detected a large amount of impact events recurring for a number of LDEF orbits. Such events show signatures of particle clouds that intersect the orbit of LDEF. In an effort to identify the impact of particles released during specific solid rocket motor burns, a new look at the IDE impact records was taken. The generation of dust particles due to solid rocket burns and the orbit conjunction of the released objects with LDEF was simulated. For the first time, an agreement of specific IDE impact features with the re-entry firings of Russian photo-reconnaissance satellites could be derived.

A Model for the High Area-to-Mass Ratio Debris in GEO

Recent observations performed using the ESA Space Debris Telescope (ESA-SDT) in Tenerife, Spain have revealed a new type of orbital debris. These objects with an area-tomass ratio of up to 30 m 2 /kg are currently not included in debris models like MASTER-2005. Their diameters are in the order of tens of centimeters. In this paper, a first approach to a new debris source model for the type of debris discovered during the ESA-SDT observations will be presented. The model will describe the parameters of the observable high area-tomass ratio objects that can be generated by two types of events. The first is a delamination of thermal insulation material from a spacecraft. The second type of event is a spacecraft fragmentation. The investigation of the design of candidate spacecraft can provide the first parameters of a model. These can be used to determine the overall size distribution of the released insulation material for both types of events. After an implementation of the model and a simulation that takes into account the orbit distribution and evolution of candidate spacecraft, a new debris population can be simulated.