Optimization of micrometeoroid and space debris protection systems

The paper will present an extension of MDPANTO (Meteoroid/Orbital Debris Protection Analysis Tool) to optimize the protection system of a given spacecraft in order to obtain a low number of penetrations and a minimum of additional mass. The optimization of protection systems is a complex task, due to the strong non-linearity of the problem. The classical, derivative based optimization procedures are unsuited, because of that. Therefore three search algorithms are tested and the results are compared. This process yielded a suitable optimization procedure to design a mass effective protection system against micrometeoroids and orbital debris. The wall configurations investigated include single wall structures and double wall configurations. In the later case the study showed that the governing equations have to reflect the influence of shield thickness properly. Only some of the equations used for calculating the number of penetrations were found to do this.