DESIGN OF A REPRESENTATIVE LEO SATELLITE AND HYPERVELOCITY IMPACT TEST TO IMPROVE THE NASA STANDARD BREAKUP MODEL By SHELDON COLBY CLARK A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2013 1 © 2013 Sheldon C. Clark 2 To my family - forever first and foremost - for making me who I am today and supporting me unconditionally through all of my endeavors. To my friends, colleagues, and advisors who have accompanied me on my journey – I am forever grateful. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all those who have given me the opportunity to grow to the person I am today. I thank my parents and family for their unconditional love and support. I am grateful to Dr. Norman Fitz-Coy for the learning opportunities he has provided and the guidance he has shared with me. I also thank my longtime friends, my colleagues in the Space Systems Group, and my peers at the University of Florida for their support and help through the years. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 11 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 14 Motivation ............................................................................................................... 14 History and Background.......................................................................................... 14 Orbital Debris Risks .......................................................................................... 14 Previous On-Orbit Events ................................................................................. 15 Solwind P78-1 ............................................................................................ 16 USA-193 .................................................................................................... 17 China FY-1C anti-satellite test ................................................................... 18 Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 collision ....................................................... 19 Additional Events .............................................................................................. 20 2 BREAKUP MODEL DEVELOPMENTS ................................................................... 22 History of Orbital Breakup Model Development ...................................................... 22 1970 Bess Experiments.................................................................................... 22 EVOLVE ........................................................................................................... 23 LEGEND ........................................................................................................... 24 Hypervelocity Impact Tests ..................................................................................... 25 Previous Hypervelocity Impact Tests ...................................................................... 25 SOCIT .............................................................................................................. 26 Low-Velocity Impact Tests ................................................................................ 27 Standard Breakup Model Improvements................................................................. 28 Research Focus ...................................................................................................... 28 3 DEBRISAT: DESIGN .............................................................................................. 29 Design Motivation …………………………………………………………………..…….29 System Level Design .............................................................................................. 31 LEO Satellite Study ................................................................................................. 34 DebriSat Subsystems ............................................................................................. 39 Electrical Power System ................................................................................... 40 5 Telemetry, Tracking, and Command ................................................................ 48 Command and Data Handling .......................................................................... 54 Payload ............................................................................................................ 57 4 DEBRISAT PROPOSED HYPERVELOCITY TEST ............................................... 73 Test Objectives ....................................................................................................... 74 Test Range ............................................................................................................. 75 Projectile Selection ................................................................................................. 77 Test Description ...................................................................................................... 77 5 POST-IMPACT CONSIDERATIONS ...................................................................... 83 Health and Safety Considerations .......................................................................... 83 Characteristic Analysis............................................................................................ 83 6 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK ................................................................. 87 APPENDIX: SPECTROLAB UTJ SOLAR CELLS ......................................................... 88 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 90 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ............................................................................................ 93 6 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 3-1 Top-level debrisat characteristics ....................................................................... 31 3-2 EPS mass .......................................................................................................... 48 3-3 List of TT&C components .................................................................................. 53 3-4 TT&C mass breakdown ..................................................................................... 54 3-5 Primary C&DH components............................................................................... 57 3-6 C&DH component masses ................................................................................ 57 3-7 Optical imager mass characteristics .................................................................. 63 3-8 Spectrometer mass characteristics .................................................................... 70 3-9 Payload components ......................................................................................... 71 3-10 Total payload mass characteristics .................................................................... 72 5-1 Catch panel material comparison ...................................................................... 72 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1-1 The Solwind P78-1 ........................................................................................... 17 3-1 External view of DebriSat ................................................................................. 30 3-2 DebriSat bay definitions .................................................................................... 31 3-3 Component layout ............................................................................................ 33 3-4 Mass distribution range of 467 satellites in UCS database ............................... 34 3-5 Mass distribution range of 50 selected satellites for UF study .......................... 35 3-6 ADCS sensor usage by mass ........................................................................... 36 3-7 ADCS actuator usage by mass ......................................................................... 37 3-8 Propulsion system usage by mass ................................................................... 37 3-9 LEO communication bands by mass range ...................................................... 38 3-10 LEO batteries by mass range ........................................................................... 39 3-11 Spectrolab 28.3% UTJ CIC solar cells .............................................................. 41 3-12 Deployed solar panels ...................................................................................... 42 3-13 Transparent view of li-ion battery redesign ....................................................... 43 3-14 Li-ion cell assembly .......................................................................................... 44 3-15 Li-ion battery case dimensions ......................................................................... 44 3-16 Power conditioning and distribution module model ........................................... 45 3-17 Power conditioning and distribution module dimensions .................................