NanoAvionics MP42 satellite tv for pc survives affect with object in orbit
by Sarunas Kazlauskas for Kongsberg NanoAvionics
Vilnius, Lithuania (SPX) Nov 03, 2024
Our MP42 satellite tv for pc, which launched into low Earth orbit (LEO) two and a half years in the past aboard the SpaceX Transporter-4 mission, not too long ago took an sudden hit from a small piece of house particles or micrometeoroid. The affect created a 6 mm gap, roughly the dimensions of a chickpea, in certainly one of its photo voltaic panels.
Regardless of this injury, the satellite tv for pc continued performing its mission with out interruption, and we solely found the affect because of a picture taken by its onboard selfie digital camera in October of 2024. It’s difficult to pinpoint precisely when the affect occurred as a result of MP42’s final selfie was taken a 12 months and a half in the past, in April of 2023.
Whether or not this affect was from a micrometeoroid or a chunk of house particles, the collision highlights the necessity for accountable house operations in orbit and makes us mirror on satellite tv for pc resilience towards these kind of occasions.
How A lot House Particles Is There In Orbit?
Right this moment, practically 3 million kg of artificial objects orbit inside 2000 km of Earth, together with energetic and inactive satellites and rocket levels. A smaller quantity of mass, about 60000 kg, is within the remaining 9000 objects at the moment being tracked by house surveillance sensors. Comparatively, solely a complete of 200 kg of meteoroid mass is current inside 2000 km of Earth’s floor at any given second.
Based on information from NASA’s Lengthy Period Publicity Facility (LDEF), launched in 1984, small particles in orbit are widespread. Throughout its practically six-year mission, the LDEF spacecraft recorded as much as 140 vital affect craters per sq. meter annually, with affect craters starting from 0.1 mm to three mm in diameter. Whereas pure micrometeoroid collisions are comparatively secure, human-made particles poses a novel problem by accumulating over time.
Regardless of these seemingly giant numbers, the Worldwide House Station (ISS), the biggest construction in orbit with the biggest security space of any spacecraft, which spans 4 by 50 by 50 kilometers (2.5 by 30 by 30 miles), has solely carried out 32 collision avoidance maneuvers to dodge house particles in 23 years between 1999 and 2022.
In our personal expertise, regardless of launching practically 50 satellites over greater than a decade, we have now solely needed to carry out a handful of collision avoidance maneuvers. Most not too long ago, in 2024, our mission operators executed a sequence of three firings utilizing the satellite tv for pc’s electrical propulsion system, which lowered our buyer’s collision likelihood with one other object by a number of orders of magnitude from 1.99e-4 to five.94e-8.
Nonetheless, with extra satellites getting into orbit annually, this low collision fee could not final if satellite tv for pc producers and operators don’t take motion to scale back the quantity of generated particles at present.
The Function of the Zero Particles Constitution
As signatories and group members of the Zero Particles Constitution, initiated by ESA, we’re dedicated to the business’s bold objective of reaching zero particles by 2030. This Constitution is a world initiative that, as of the time of writing, brings collectively greater than 100 organizations worldwide to set measurable particles discount objectives, with targets constructed via open collaboration.
The Constitution represents a shared imaginative and prescient for sustainable house operations, setting each high-level rules and technical targets to information house security efforts for years to return, emphasizing each speedy and long-term measures.
By becoming a member of this initiative, we’re serving to to make sure that NanoAvionics’ satellites and people from our clients function responsibly and contribute to a safer future in house.
Methods to Decrease House Particles
We make the most of house situational consciousness platforms that use AI and machine studying to research house site visitors information from a number of sources, offering exact collision predictions and optimized maneuver methods. This ensures we will act rapidly if any of our satellites are in danger. Along with collision avoidance, we take a number of different steps to maintain our orbits as clear as attainable:
+ Our satellites endure rigorous whole ionizing dose (TID), heavy ion, and proton beam radiation testing to make sure they function reliably and do not change into particles attributable to malfunctions brought on by radiation.
+ We use clear launch mechanisms, akin to burn wires and frangible bolts, for deploying photo voltaic panels, antennas, and different elements to keep away from producing particles.
+ For satellites with mission lifetimes longer than 5 years, we equip them with propulsion programs for managed deorbiting, decreasing long-term particles.
+ A number of the buyer missions we enabled contribute to monitoring and eradicating particles, actively serving to to create space safer for all customers.
Bettering Satellite tv for pc Design for House Resilience
Our current expertise with the MP42 additionally brings up the dialogue about how satellite tv for pc design can scale back the affect of house particles on general mission success.
Just a few examples could possibly be contemplating positioning delicate elements, like star trackers, inside the satellite tv for pc body or on sides that principally face away from the satellite tv for pc’s velocity vector to scale back affect dangers.
Moreover, inspecting how mission operations might scale back payload, akin to digital camera optics, publicity to the first stream of house particles. NASA’s LDEF experiment we talked about earlier confirmed that spacecraft encounter particles rughly 10 occasions extra often on the facet that’s uncovered to the satellite tv for pc’s velocity vector.
By adjusting satellite tv for pc designs and ideas of operation (CONOPS) to guard weak elements, we will additional enhance our satellites’ resilience in orbit.
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