A Method and a Tool for Assessing In-Orbit Debris-Related Risk for Space Systems

This paper addresses a methodology taking space-debris-related risk for Low, Medium and Geostationary Earth Orbit space missions into account, and aims at assessing the collision risk not only as a physical threat supported by a physical spacecraft, but as a hazardous effect on the space system mission. The goal is to develop a tool exploiting such physical simulation results (i.e. effects of sustainable impacts on the spacecraft in case of small debris, cost of the spacecraft avoidance manoeuvres in case of large debris) in a given debris scenario, to compute the repercussion of these effects on the space mission, and to perform comparisons between possible debris scenarios. This work is part of the PÇ-ROTECT (Prediction, Protection & Reduction of OrbiTal Exposure to Collision Threats) project, initiated in March 2011.