Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: NASA

The increased amount of space hardware flying through cislunar space and at the moon is being viewed as a space debris worry. Even one fragmentation event can have calamitous and far-reaching consequences, which drives the need for appropriate debris characterization tools.

That’s the view of two university researchers who caution that space domain awareness is lacking at a time when cislunar activity is intensifying. Orbital debris that now encircles the Earth has primarily been generated through collisions, propellant tank explosions, detonation of batteries, or due to the deterioration of aging or damaged spacecraft, among other causes.

New study tackles the Circular Restricted Three Body Problem (CR3BP) and the problem of populating cislunar space with debris fragments.
Image credit: Clark/Frueh/Purdue University

Studies indicate that breakup events in the cislunar domain can carry fragments well beyond their original orbits, even as far as Earth. What’s needed is better appraisal of the behavior of cislunar clutter.

For more details, go to my new SpaceNews story – “University researchers flag cislunar space debris concerns” – at:

https://spacenews.com/university-researchers-flag-cislunar-space-debris-concerns/