Hypervelocity launchers for satellite structures orbital debris characterization

Abstract

Orbital debris poses increasing threats to the space environment because of increasing space activities, therefore on-orbit hypervelocity impact should be simulated using the experiment by launch projectile into the target. Generally, ground-based experiments include three major sectors: projectile launch, impact monitoring including shock wave and debris cloud formation imaging, and finally result processing. For ground-based hypervelocity impact tests, various acceleration techniques such as light two and three-stage gas guns, plasma accelerators, electrostatic accelerators, and shaped charge accelerators have been used. This paper will primarily focus on those that are most relevant to current research on hypervelocity tests and would improve current research in the field of hypervelocity impact tests on composite material for primary satellite structures.