NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Collections About News Help Login
Back to Results
Assessing Terra Disposal Orbit Candidates from an Orbital Debris PerspectiveThe NASA Terra satellite is reaching the end of its mission life. Because the satellite resides in the 705 km Earth Science Constellation, disposal strategies need to be considered to remove it from this densely populated operational orbit. Of critical importance was the need to examine the future potential risk to other satellite residents of the 705 km constellation due to an unexpected breakup event of the Terra satellite post-disposal. This study quantifies the comparative risk of debris impacts associated with the two leading candidate disposal orbits (701 km vs. 686 km) and characterizes the suitability of each orbit for the purpose of long-term spacecraft disposal. The increase in collision risk to any member of the 705 km Earth Science Constellation is very modest. The long-term, average, total risk (including the ambient background risk) due to a Terra breakup at a disposal of -19 km (i.e., 686 km) relative to the 705 km constellation is 9.7 × 10(exp -6) impacts/day versus 1.0 × 10(exp -5) impacts/day for a disposal of only -4 km (i.e., 701 km). For perspective, note that the nominal space background risk to the 705 km constellation is 9.2 × 10(exp -6) impacts/day which implies a very modest increase in risk (approximately 3% difference between the two cases) due to a Terra breakup in either disposal orbit.
Document ID
20160011253
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Abraham, Andrew J. (Aerospace Corp. Chantilly, VA, United States)
Thompson, Roger C. (Aerospace Corp. Chantilly, VA, United States)
Mantziaras, Dimitrios C. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
September 15, 2016
Publication Date
September 13, 2016
Subject Category
Computer Programming And Software
Space Transportation And Safety
Report/Patent Number
AIAA Paper 2016-2431771
GSFC-E-DAA-TN33138
Meeting Information
Meeting: SPACE 2016
Location: Long Beach, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: September 13, 2016
End Date: September 16, 2016
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG11VH00B
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

Related Records

There are no records associated with this record.
No Preview Available