DEBRIS IMPACT DAMAGE AND FRAGMENTATION OF ANTENNA STRUCTURE IN GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT

Low velocity impact tests simulating debris collision in geostationary orbit were conducted to investigate structural damage and fragment di spersion. Simple holes were perforated on CFRP shells, while tube elem ents were either perforated or destroyed depending on the projectile s ize. Impact produced a dust like cloud consisting of very small partic les including more than 1000 particles of larger than 1 mm in size. Th e velocities of the particles were in the same order as the velocity o f the projectile. Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd