Space Debris Reentry Analysis Methods and Tools

• Published in: Chinese journal of aeronautics 2011-08, Vol.24 (4), p.387-395
• Main Authors: WU, Ziniu, HU, Ruifeng, QU, Xi, WANG, Xiang, WU, Zhe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ablation; aerodynamics; Atmosphere entry; breakup; Computer simulation; Debris; Grounds; Monte Carlo methods; Object oriented; Object-oriented programming; Reentry; risk assessment; space debris; 不确定性分析; 再入; 分析工具; 欧洲航天局; 直接模拟蒙特卡罗; 空间碎片; 蒙特卡罗方法; 面向对象
• ISSN: 1000-9361
• DOI: 10.1016/S1000-9361(11)60046-0

The reentry of uncontrolled spacecraft may be broken into many pieces of debris at an altitude in the range of 75-85 km. The surviving fragments could pose great hazard and risk to ground and people. In recent years, methods and tools for predicting and analyzing debris reentry and ground risk assessment have been studied and developed in National Aeronautics and Space Ad-ministration （NASA）, European Space Agency （ESA） and other organizations, including the group of the present authors. This paper reviews the current progress on this topic of debris reentry briefly. We outline the Monte Carlo method for uncertainty analysis, breakup prediction, and parameters affecting survivability of debris. The existing analysis tools can be classified into two categories, i.e. the object-oriented and the spacecraft-oriented methods, the latter being more accurate than the first one. The past object-oriented tools include objects of only simple shapes. For more realistic simulation, here we present an object-oriented tool debris reentry and ablation prediction system （DRAPS） developed by the present authors, which introduces new object shapes to 15 types, as well as 51 predefined motions and relevant aerodynamic and aerothermal models. The aerodynamic and aerothermal models in DRAPS are validated using direct simulation Monte Carlo （DSMC） method.