The space debris environment for the ISS orbit

Recent work at the Johnson Space Center has focused on updating the existing space debris models. The Orbital Debris Engineering Model (ORDEM) has been restructured to take advantage of state-of-the-art desktop computing capability and revised with recent measurements from Haystack, HAX, and Goldstone radars, additional analysis of LDEF and Space Shuttle impacts, and the most recent Space Surveillance Network catalog. The new model also contains the capability to extrapolate the current environment in time to the year 2030. A revised meteoroid model that includes the meteor showers for Earth orbit has also been developed. This paper quantifies the space debris environment for the ISS orbit from anthropogenic and natural sources. Particle flux and velocity distributions as functions of size and angle are given for particles 10 microns and larger. The environment is projected forward in time until 2030.