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| Development and Application of a Performance Evaluation System for Meteoroid/Orbital Debris Shield |
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Abstract: The importance of a Meteoroid/Orbital Debris (M/OD) shield is analyzed and the framework of a performance evaluation system for M/OD shield is given. Based on the analysis of the shield performance for different shield parameters and impact parameters, the influences of shield spacing, thickness of wall, impact velocities and impact angles on the shield performance are discussed. The shield performance of the Whipple shield is not influenced by shield spacing, when the impact velocities are less than 3 km/s, but significant influence of shield spacing is evident when the impact velocities are at the range of v>3 km/s. Better shield performance is found in thicker shield. The ballistic limit curves have three different trends. The critical projectile diameter increases with impact velocities at the range of v≤3 km/s or v≥7 km/s, and decreases with impact velocities at the range of 3 km/s<v<7 km/s. Namely, the shield performance sees three different trends with the impact velocities ranging from 0 to 15 km/s. And better performance is expected with larger impact angle. A design method for Corrugated Stuffed Whipple shield (CSW) is given. The results of analysis show that shield performance for CSW improves with increase of corrugated angle. The shield parameters of CSW are established to protect spacecraft from small orbital debris impact.
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Received: 16 July 2009
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2009, Vol. 27 
