Optical Detection of Submillimeter and Millimeter Debris in LEO

Submillimeter and millimeter debris in LEO
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
Optical detection of submillimeter

and millimeter debris in LEO
Mike Gruntman
Department of Astronautical Engineering
University of Southern California
Future In-Space Operations (FISO) Seminar

February 25
25, 2015
FISO Series February 25, 2015
USC/VSOE Astronautics
Acta Astronautica,
v. 105, 156-170, 2014
10.1016/j.actaastro.2014.08.022
1/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
Orbital Detection of ... Debris in LEO

orbital debris in LEO
observational gap and limitations of current techniques
LODE (Local Orbital Debris Environment) concept
photon-counting time-tagging imaging sensor
debris detection
LODE example and performance characteristics
anticipated
ti i t d annuall number
b off debris
d b i events/detections
t /d t ti
mission and CONOPS
2/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
Orbital Debris in LEO

range from tiny (10 m) to very
l
large
(10 m))
Large debris: > 710 cm (34)

tracked and cataloged by U.S. SSN
pose threat to spacecraft
~ 19,000
loss of spacecraft
d
degradation
d ti and
d lloss off
capabilities (incl. mission ending)
of subsystems and payloads
U.S. National Space Policy, 2010

increase
increase understanding of the
current and future debris
environment
active satellites can avoid collisions

(in principle) by maneuvering
Space Fence will improve tracking
capabilities
Small debris: < 5 cm (2)

characterized statistically
cannot be avoided by maneuvers
1 mm 10 cm: estimated >107
< 1mm:
estimated >1012
3/19

< 0.1 mm
can be experimentally characterized by
bringing exposed surfaces back to Earth from
orbit (LDEF, SMM, EURECA, Space Shuttle)
> 5 cm
tracked/cataloged by radar
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
Observational Gap
Models ((ORDEM and MASTER))
disagree (order of magnitude) in
the 0.110 mm range
Focus of this work: 0.1 10 mm

submillimeter (0.1 1.0 mm) and
millimeter (1 10 mm) debris
too small to be detected by radar or optically
too few to be measured by studying exposed
surfaces
one has
h to
t rely
l on modeling
d li
damage to spacecraft and payloads
ranges from surface degradation to loss of
spacecraft or its components and payloads
Figure: Krisko et al., IAC-14-A6.2.8, 2014
4/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
Accumulation of Debris
d
density
it off debris
d b i > 1 mm
atmospheric drag effectively
removes debris below 600 km
1
1-mm
mm sphere at 400
400-km
km altitude
reenters the atmosphere within a
couple weeks
debris accumulate above 700 km
solar radiation pressure could
decrease lifetime of large areato-mass ratio debris
maximum density at ~ 800 km
5/19
Radar limitations
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
R d and
Radar
dO
Optical
ti l Limitations
Li it ti
radar detection ~R-4
NASA Haystack and Goldstone
radar cross section (RCS)

RCS area (d2) for d > 3
can detect debris down to several mm at

altitudes of 400 km
RCS drops precipitously with decreasing

size for d < (1/3) (Rayleigh scattering)
Haystack and Haystack Auxiliary (HAX)

demonstrated detection up
p to 800 km
most radars operate in S band

( = 615 cm) and X band ( 3 cm)
atmospheric absorption fundamentally
limits increase of radar frequencies
beyond X band
Optical observations
ground- and space-based telescopes
primarily observe large GEO objects
space-based optical sensors observe
large objects in LEO (e.g., MSX)
German TIRA radar

detected 1
12
2 cm debris at altitudes up
to 1000 km
a number of feasibility studies for observing
millimeter and (primarily) centimeter size
debris in LEO by space-based sensors
all based on CCDs in focal plane
nobody looked at submillimeter debris
6/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
Local Orbital Debris Environment (LODE) Sensor

Observation-validated models of
d b i environment
debris
i
t essential
ti l ffor
optimal design and safe operations
of satellites
models disagree
g
((0.110 mm))
even if they were in agreement,
important to validate
Local Orbital Debris Environment (LODE)

to measure debris near satellite orbit
based on passive optical photon-counting
time-tagging imaging system
a way to
t close
l
th
the observational
b
ti
l gap
NASA Handbook 9719.4, 2008
This work:
From the safety and the satellite

operations perspective, there is
an immediate need for a large
and dedicated meteoroid and
orbital debris sensor to monitor
and update the populations
between 0
0.1
1 and 1.0
1 0 mm
mm.
top-level
feasibility
study
(unfunded)
Acta Astronautica
v. 105, 156-170, 2014
7/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
LODE Concept
focal plane detector of a small telescope
photon-counting time-tagging imaging system
(position-sensitive detector based on
microchannel plates PSD based on MCP)
essentially different from frame detectors (CCDs)
PSDs used since 1970s
laboratory and space
open type (electrons, ions, EUV, X-rays) and
sealed with photocathode (optical)
numerous space instruments (plasma and
energetic
g
p
particle analyzers;
y
; EUV and X-rayy
spectrometers and imagers)
MG:
review
article
in major
physics
journal
in 1984
optical: ground-based telescopes (very few)

optical: currently operational in two instruments
(COS and
d STIS) on H
Hubble
bbl Space
S
Telescope
T l
8/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
Position Sensitive Detector (PSD) based on MCP

Position-Sensitive
Siegmund et al.,
SPIE-8033, 2001
incident particle (photon) converted into an

avalanche
l
h (10610
108) off electrons
l t
different types of readout schemes
determine: coordinates (x,y) and detection time (t)
of each registered photon in real time
image built up (accumulated) in computer memory
sensitive area: 2020 mm to 100100 mm

spatial resolution: up to 20002000 pixels
time (tagging) resolution: ~1 ns
max count rate (total): up to 106 s11
max count rate (point source): 10100 s1
PSDs essentially differ from
frame detectors (CCDs)
9/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
Detection of Debris Crossing FOV

Prior studies of optical space-based
sensors for
f d
debris
b i detection
d t ti
CCD in focal plane
debris passage across FOV during a
frame accumulation time interval results
in a streak across a pattern of fixed
stars and diffuse background
forms 2D debris trajectory in focal
plane (x,y)
( ) 2D space
20 or more photons are needed for
signal above noise in a single CCD pixel
reliable detection of a rare streak
requires multiple lightened-up pixels
at least a few hundred debrisreflected photons should enter the
sensor
LODE debris detection

debris passage across FOV forms
3D debris trajectory in (the focal
plane plus time) (x,y,t) 3D space
requires detection of only several
photons to extract the rare event
disadvantage: smaller photon detection
efficiency than by CCDs
significantly smaller (than for CCDbased frame detector) number of
debris-reflected photons should
enter the sensor higher sensitivity
opens a way for detecting smaller
(submillimeter) debris
MCP-based PSDs have been never
considered for detection of small debris
10/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
D t ti
Detection
off D
Debris
bi
Siegmund et al.,
SPIE-8033, 2001
bright
g stars:
must be avoided (small fraction of the sky)
PhotoPh
t
cathode
(S-20)
efficiency
PSD intrinsic noise: significantly smaller

than diffuse background count rate
sensor geometric
t i factor
f t (
( 00) limited
li it d b
by
sky light background
sensor spectral
p
range
g
assume ((simplified)
p
)
visible: 400850 nm
antisolar pointing
(e.g., sun-synchronous dawn-dusk orbit)
light background
Zodiacal light
g
integrated starlight of unresolved stars
diffuse galactic light
typical background intensity:
500 S10S 21
mag/arcsec2
8.0 kR
velocity of debris V0 = 10 km/sec

normall crossing
i off th
the sensor FOV
isotropic (2) scattering of solar light by
debris with albedo = 0.15
M debris
debris-scattered
scattered photons to be
registered for debris event detection
11/19
Maximum distance hM for debris

(size a) FOV crossing detection
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
D t ti
Detection
off D
Debris
bi
Effective debris
detection area S(a)
a debris diameter
V0 debris velocity
debris albedo
d0 sensor aperture diameter
photon detection efficiency
CM maximum count rate
f0 sky diffuse background
FS solar photon flux
M number of debris-scattered
photons
A passage of an object larger in size and/or

closer to the sensor would result in a
larger average number of registered
photons and consequent event detection
12/19
d0 = 6 cm (sensor aperture diameter)
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
LODE Example
E
l
CM = 104 s1 (maximum count rate)
0 = 5.35106 sr (solid angle)

0 = 0.15 (plane angle)
M minimal number of debris-reflected

photons to be registered for
f FOV
O
crossing by a debris)
mV = 7.6 and brighter to be avoided

necessary to determine
25,000 stars
1.1% of the sky
a probability that random background

photons produce a pattern of
registered photons indistinguishable
form a true debris detection
PSD (in the focal plane)

1525 mm (diameter)
128128 pixels (resolution)
13/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
Mi i l Number
Minimal
N
b off Registered
R i t d Photons
Ph t
M
example:
it takes t = 1 ms for a debris
to cross the selected FOV at
the h = 3.8 km distance
One would consider photons

registered (accumulated)
during such a time interval of
(t = 1 ms) for search of
events of debris passage at
this distance (h) or closer
t, ms
1 false event per year
14/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
Maximum Distance and Detection

Area
actually,
y, effective
maximum detection
distance and
effective detection
areas are larger
g ((a
factor of ~2 for area)
because of the
Poissonian nature of
detected p
photons
1 false event per year
size 0.15 mm
M
hM
15.6 m
t
S
0.004 ms
0
0.32
32 m2
0.3 mm
4
62 m
0.016 ms
5 1 m2
5.1
1.0 mm
5
3.0 mm
6
10 mm
7
0.55 km
4.2 km
40 km
0.14 ms
400 m2
1.1 ms
0 023 km2
0.023
10 ms
2 0 km2
2.0
15/19

1 mm at 0
0.55
55 km
3 mm at 4
4.2
2 km
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
10 mm at 40 km
LODE
FOV
Crossing
by
Debris
blue dots
background
b k
d
photons
red dots
debris
reflected
16/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
A
Annual
lN
Number
b off D
Debris
b i Events
E
t
Orbit
altitude
800 km
iinclination
li ti
98.5
detection rate
per 0
0.1-mm
1-mm bin,
bin yr 1
flux density
per 0
0.1-mm
1 mm bin,
bin m2 yr 11
MASTER
predicts fewer
debris than
ORDEM
total annual number (0.2 10.0 mm)
1400
3.8 events per day
submillimeter (0.2 1.0 mm)
780
2.1 events per day
(large) millimeter ( 6 10 mm)
465
1.3 events per day
17/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
Mi i and
Mission
d CONOPS
Instrument/experiment challenges
Spacecraft and mission
detection of smallest debris closest to

the instrument
small satellite or hosted payload

no major challenges to
spacecraft or CONOPS
capture of a burst of 1015 photons

within 1 microsecond
exception: high-data rate
deadtime < 50 ns
raising the minimal debris size to
0.3 mm ((from 0.2 mm)) will substantially
y
relax the requirements to the detector
Narrow-FOV LODE concept is

complementary to radar (Haystack and
HAX) and wide-FOV CCD-based optical
instruments
data rate 1 Mbps 1011 bit/day (raw)
constrain uncertainties of
measurements byy various techniques
q
challenging for a small sat

real-time processing on board
straightforward for short time intervals
(
(smallest
ll
d
debris)
bi )
could be used for measuring debris in

GEO, GTO, and dust in lunar environment
micrometeoroid fluxes
Thank you for your attention!
18/19
Mike Gruntman
mikeg@usc.edu
About the Author

Mike Gruntman is Professor of Astronautics at the University of Southern
California (USC); he is the founder of the USC Astronautics Program and
served the founding chairman of the Department of Astronautical Engineering
from 20042007.
His research interests include astronautics, space physics and instrumentation,
rocketry and propulsion, and satellite design and technologies. He is Co-I on
current NASA missions IBEX and TWINS.
Mike authored and co-authored 270 publications,
publications including 85+ journal articles
and book chapters and 3 books. He served on the editorial board of the journal
Review of Scientific Instruments and on various government advisory panels.
Mike teaches courses in spacecraft design (1100 graduate students during the
l t 10 years)) and
last
d spacecraft
ft propulsion.
l i
H
He also
l tteaches
h short
h t courses
(AIAA, ATI) to industry and government.
Web site: astronauticsnow.com
email: mikeg@usc.edu
19/19

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