RADID – Rapid Assessment of Design Impact on Debris Generation

Project Objectives

The goal of the activity is to enhance current models and upgrade a software framework for the early and rapid assessment of the impact that spacecraft design choices would have on the amount and characteristics of debris generated during spacecraft orbit decay for controlled, as well as uncontrolled, re-entry.

Several software packages have been developed in the past for re-entry simulation under consideration of ablation effects and present a suitable starting point for consecutive upgrade.

In order to make them fit for rapid "design for demise" assessment, the following work will be performed to arrive at a suitable software framework for rapid assessment of design impact on debris mitigation:

• Upgrade of explosion, fragmentation and ablation modelling algorithms
• Compilation and integration of enhanced and updated Geographic Information System (GIS) data, air and ship traffic models and human population models
• Interfacing with simulation, analysis and optimisation software for orbital and atmospheric vehicle dynamics
• Augmentation of the functionality of such simulation, analysis and optimisation software to include or enhance the capability of assessing the mission or system design impacts on risk to humans, ground infrastructure and assets
• Maturation of optimisation techniques for D4D worst case identification as well as efficient Monte Carlo simulation within the software framework
• Implementation of approaches for uncertainty quantification
• Implementation of a library for standard components