Damage effects of the copper space debris on Whipple bumper shields

Abstract

Aiming at the problem of the protection ability of the Whipple bumper shields under the action of millimeter-scale copper material space debris, the traditional Whipple bumper shields is studied, and the test of the protection ability of the Whipple bumper shields target plate against copper material debris is carried out, and the process of debris generation device forming debris and debris impacting the Whipple bumper shields is verified and studied through numerical simulation analysis, and the damage form of each layer target plate is analyzed, and the hole diameter of the Whipple bumper shields target plate is obtained fragment residual speed and other data. The results show that the copper space debris with an initial velocity of 1910 m/s penetrated the front and rear aluminum target plates of the Whipple bumper shields, and still had a high residual velocity after a hole with a minimum diameter of 10 mm was created on the aftereffect target, and penetrated an additional layer of aluminum alloy target plates, which proves that the traditional Whipple bumper shields has insufficient protection ability against copper space debris.