Entry Vehicle and Jettisoned Debris Recontact Analysis

Cutri-Kohart, Rebecca M.; Graybeal, Sarah R.; Mendeck, Gavin F.; Mrozinski, Richard B.

doi:10.2514/6.2003-5392

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Each of these fragments then poses a separate risk to the vehicle and the crew. Previous re-contact risk models have sought to examine closest approaches from several Monte Carlo data sets to provide a risk assessment [1]. However, such techniques are computationally expensive, hindering iterative trajectory optimization.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mesh-Based Entry Vehicle and Explosive Debris Re-Contact Probability Modeling

McPherson

Mendeck

2011

AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference

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The risk to a crewed vehicle arising from potential re-contact with fragments from an explosive breakup of any jettisoned spacecraft segments during entry has long sought to be quantified. However, great difficulty lies in efficiently capturing the potential locations of each fragment and their collective threat to the vehicle. The method presented in this paper addresses this problem by using a stochastic approach that discretizes simulated debris pieces into volumetric cells, and then assesses strike probabilities accordingly. Combining spatial debris density and relative velocity between the debris and the entry vehicle, the strike probability can be calculated from the integral of the debris flux inside each cell over time. Using this technique it is possible to assess the risk to an entry vehicle along an entire trajectory as it separates from the jettisoned segment. By decoupling the fragment trajectories from that of the entry vehicle, multiple potential separation maneuvers can then be evaluated rapidly to provide an assessment of the best strategy to mitigate the re-contact risk.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%