Issue 32

I. Telichev, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 32 (2015) 24-34; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.32.03

module 5). In the event that a pressure wall is predicted to “unzip”, the survivability improvements can be achieved by adding more effective shielding or/and by varying the design parameters of the pressurized module. New protection measures will be evaluated by repeating the steps in the above design procedure until the “no rupture” conditions will be verified. The analysis of interaction of penetrative particles with equipment inside a spacecraft is out of scope of the current paper.

2

Pressurized module + shield system

1

Orbital Debris data (untrackable)

4

3

Spacecraft survived, mission continues

No

Pressure wall damage?

Yes

5

End of analysis 14

Fracture analysis

6

Pressure wall rupture? (“unzipping”)

Yes

No

9

Destruction of critical internal components?

No

7

8

Varying the design parameters of pressurized module

Varying the characteristics of shield

Yes

10

Actions to enhance the survivability?

Yes

Seal/repair of damaged pressure wall 12

No

11

Disfunctional trackable spacecraft, mitigation requirement is satisfied

13

Spacecraft survived, mission continues

14

End of analysis

Figure 1 : Design procedure of spacecraft with enhanced survivability.

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