Characterizing fragments from impact on a micro satellite

This paper characterizes the properties of fragments from impact on a micro satellite. We have found out that the NASA standard breakup model can be applied to low-velocity non-catastrophic collisions with some simple modifications. However, we are not sure if it can also be applied to low-velocity catastrophic collisions, wherein both projectile and target are totally fragmented. The difference between a catastrophic and a non-catastrophic collision would be determined by the ratio of kinetic energy at impact to target mass. The NASA standard breakup model has defined if the ratio is equal to or greater than 40 J/g, then the collision is catastrophic. Therefore, we hit a micro satellite of a mass of 681.5 g by a solid aluminum alloy sphere of a mass of 38.9 g at a speed of 1.35 km/s. This impact carried out above is catastrophic in modeling. Then, we compares fragments properties with those generated by the NASA standard breakup model 2000 revision to show that size distribution model in the standard breakup model can be applied to a catastrophic low-velocity collision with some simple modifications and size-to-area conversion model in the standard breakup model can be applied to a catastrophic low-velocity collision.