On-Orbit Additive Manufacturing for MMOD Protection

The near-earth orbital environment is becoming more congested not only with satellites, but also the byproducts of numerous launches and increased orbital activity since the dawn of the Space Age in 1957. There now exists significant untraceable and uncountable micrometeoroids and orbital debris (MMOD) that carry sufficient kinetic energy to damage or destroy critical space assets. Current shielding mechanisms, such as the Whipple shield and its variants, can be effective but are necessarily overdesigned to survive launch environments. Recent developments in additive manufacturing (AM) on-orbit will soon enable the deployment of engineered structures previously considered impractical. Such structures can be optimized for any purpose including protection from MMOD. In this work, several engineered structural concepts were developed for MMOD protection that leverage emerging on-orbit additive manufacturing technology. These prototypes underwent hypervelocity impact testing and succeeded in preventing damage to the underlying structure. This exploratory research demonstrated that additive manufacturing on-orbit is a promising approach to protecting satellites from MMOD, in addition to its many other potential applications.