“Lethal Debris Creation Following Catastrophic and Sub-Catastrophic Untracked Orbital Debris Impacts on Smallsats

June, 2025
IDA document: 3002841
FFRDC: Systems and Analyses Center
Type: Documents , Space
Division: Operational Evaluation Division
Authors:
Authors
Peter M. Mancini, Robert F. Stellingwerf, Joel E. Williamsen, James F. Heagy See more authors
This study uses smooth particle hydrodynamics modeling to simulate the creation of mission-lethal non-trackable orbital debris from objects varying in mass and shape. The paper was originally presented at the 17th Hypervelocity Impact Symposium and has been published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). ASME holds the copyright for this paper.