空间碎片
碎片
物理
等离子体
航天器
孤子
计算物理学
天文
气象学
量子力学
非线性系统
作者
Alexis S. Truitt,Christine Hartzell
出处
期刊:Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets
[American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics]
日期:2020-09-01
卷期号:57 (5): 876-897
被引量:13
摘要
Subcentimeter orbital debris is currently undetectable using ground-based radar and optical methods. However, pits in space shuttle windows produced by paint chips demonstrate that small debris can cause serious damage to spacecraft. Recent analytical, computational, and experimental work has shown that charged objects moving quickly through a plasma will cause the formation of plasma density solitary waves, or solitons. Due to their exposure to the solar wind plasma environment, even the smallest space debris will be charged. Depending on the debris size, charge, and velocity, debris may produce plasma solitons that propagate along the debris velocity vector; and it could be detected with existing sensor technology. Plasma soliton detection would be the first collision-free method of mapping the small debris population. The amplitude, width, and production frequency of solitons that may be produced by millimeter and centimeter-scale orbital debris will be described as a function of the debris’ size, velocity, and location (altitude, latitude, and longitude) about Earth. The characteristics of plasma solitons described here are necessary to evaluate the feasibility of orbital debris detection via soliton detection with future debris detection systems.
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