How can we predict the evolution of millions of space debris under orbital perturbations? Check out the latest conference paper at the Aerospace Europe Conference 2021, held at the Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation in Warsaw, Poland, by our Lorenzo Giudici, Camilla Colombo, Mirko Trisolini and Juan Luis Gonzalo, developed in collaboration with Francesca Letizia from the European Space Agency and Stefan Frey from Vyoma Space. The highlights of the paper are:
- Definition of the phase space domain probabilistically occupied by the fragments generated by a fragmentation event
- Estimation of the density distribution of fragments in the phase space of Keplerian elements, through a binning approach
- Propagation of the space debris’ density distribution under orbital perturbations
- Application of the model to the explosion of the Ullage rocket motor in medium-Earth orbit