MEO Debris Environment Projection Study

The recently developed Aerospace Debris Environment Projection Tool was used to project the future debris environment in medium Earth orbit (MEO) over the next 200 years. The entire Earth orbital population was modeled to account for the possibility of cross-coupling between the MEO population and the low Earth orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous populations via objects on highly eccentric orbits that transit through MEO. It was found that a large fraction of the MEO debris originated from collisions in LEO involving satellites and rocket bodies that transit through LEO and MEO. Results showed that world-wide compliance with orbit lifetime reduction will significantly reduce the amount of debris in MEO.