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Completed TRL 3 (started at 2, targeting 3)
An electric field antenna design is presented for the purpose of detecting millimeter-scale orbital debris. Millimeter-scale orbital debris presents a great threat to the safety of spacecraft. Through ground tracking systems such as the Goldstone and Haystack facilities, we can characterize the debris environment for diameters greater than a half a centimeter using radar. For diameters greater than 10 cm, the U.S. Space Surveillance Network can detect the debris. No device is currently available to determine the characteristics below the millimeter-scale debris population, despite the damage they can do. Recent research has shown that as small debris travels through the ionosphere, it will create a solitary acoustic wave in the plasma, called a soliton, that is potentially detectable. Depending on the altitude and relative velocity of the debris particle to the plasma, the solitons created may propagate kilometers ahead of the debris. Millimeter-scale debris may be characterized using an electric field antenna to detect the precursor solitons. To resolve the soliton, which has the same cross-sectional spatial size as the debris and a frequency of a few kHz, fast detections with a large collection area must be made. To prevent missed detections of solitons passing close by, but not interacting with the antenna, a paraboloid reflector will be implemented to increase the collection area. A simulation of a detection event will be done in MATLAB to determine the effect of antenna parameters such as reflector design, antenna size, and sample rate on the data collected. The data will be evaluated based on the ability to rebuild the soliton signature. Experimental data will be taken in a plasma chamber at Marshall Space Flight Center and compared with the simulation.
A constellation of CubeSats with these Langmuir probes would fill the gap in detection that is needed to fully characterize the orbital debris environment.
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