Exemplifying standard methods for hypervelocity impact risk assessment - expro plus

To exemplify and consolidate the methods and models for hypervelocity impact risk assessment of satellites to match the space debris mitigation requirements for the majority of mission concepts in Earth orbit.DescriptionAs of today there are several sources for hypervelocity impact risk assessment, for example the IADC (Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee) Protection Manual and an ISO standard. However, these sources are typically providing relevant toolsets and methods in general, but clear sets of instructions, manuals or guideline what to use in which case is not available. This in particular the case when e.g. mapping theoretical ballistic limit equations onto hardware planned to be used on a mission when there are no accompanying tests. This activity aims to consolidate the last years of research in the field into a practical method for European industry and to provide guidance on when testing (i.e. subject a spacecraft equipment or material sample to hyper velocity impacts to assess the failure mechanism and likelihood rather than extrapolating from known cases) is required, to fulfil the now mandatory requirements on computing hyper velocity impact risk in orbit, i.e. the probability of losing disposal capability and break-up of the spacecraft.This activity encompasses the following tasks:- Identify realistic spacecraft mission use-cases to be analysed in this activity (at least CubeSat, SmallSat, large platform; two environments LEO and GEO).- Identify relevant hypervelocity impact related failure modes for the space debris mitigation standard (e.g. loss of spacecraft, tank explosion, loss of disposal capability, puncture of external harness or embedded heat pipes).- Collect relevant data from experimental and numerical tests, identify knowledge gaps and perform additional activities as necessary.- Assess the impact thresholds to trigger failure modes and evaluate suitable metric (e.g. impactor size, kin. Energy).- Assess knowledge and gaps in generation of debris in hypervelocity impact (HVI) on spacecraft, and where possible address them by simulation or test.- Identify potential mitigation methods.- Apply and document HVI risk assessment method step-by-step to spacecraft mission usecases.- Define a generic step-by-step process to support mission designers from early phases onwards- Draft a public document as guidelines on how to perform HVI risk assessment in the scope ESSB-ST-007.Software shall be delivered under an ESA Software Community License