Title: Development of a satellite shield sensor to detect, locate and quantify damage from space debris (DLQ Sensor)

Duration: 2022 - 2023

Funding scheme: Internationalisation Partnership Awards Scheme Plus (IPAS+) 2022

Funds: EUR 6,000

Principal investigator: Dr Robert Camilleri

This project develops a smart sensor for satellite shields. The sensor is able to detect impact, locate and quantify damage on the satellite shield. In recent years, the satellite market experienced a paradigm shift with the rise of small satellites and constellations formed by hundreds of satellites. It is anticipated that by 2026, more than 300 satellites per year will be launched, representing a market of $304 billion. However, the increase in satellite density in orbit, and the large amount of space debris orbiting in space, poses a threat to such satellites.

Space debris is any man-made objects in orbit that no longer has a useful purpose, and can be classified in three categories according to size: smaller than 1 mm, between 1mm – 10mm, or larger than 10 mm. This debris poses a threat because it can collide with satellites that are still operational and may thus disrupt satellite-dependent services such as telecommunications and satellite navigation systems. The latter can be detected by radars and optical sensors, and satellites in their path would take evasive manoeuvres. For example, the U.S. Space Surveillance Network is capable of detecting space debris in the low-Earth orbit that is larger than 50mm. On the other side of the spectrum, debris smaller than 1mm is addressed by satellite shields that are designed to withstand their impacts. Therefore these pose no real danger to orbiting satellites. However, space debris between 1mm and 10 mm at low Earth orbit (where velocities are over 5 km/s) offer a threat to orbiting satellites as they are too small to detect by in-situ technologies and contain significant kinetic energy to damage the satellite shield.

Continuous research efforts aim to understand the behaviour of the shields under hyper velocity impacts through the use of characterisation experiments which produce iterative improvements in shield design. While traditional material testing achieves a pass or no pass criteria, there is a significant requirement to detect impacts and quantify the level of damage following an impact. Such awareness is important to establish if the satellite needs to be repaired or replaced. This is therefore the topic of this research which aligns not only with the requirements of the IPAS+ requirements but also aims to build capacity as required by the recently launched national space strategy. The Institute of Aerospace Technologies from the University of Malta is therefore proposing this research in collaboration with the Centro di Ateneo di Studi e Attivita’ Spaziali “Giuseppe Colombo” (CISAS) from the University of Padova.