group
What campus are you from?
Daytona Beach
Authors' Class Standing
Rohith Vinnakota, Junior Le Na Hoang, Sophomore
Lead Presenter's Name
Rohith Vinnakota
Faculty Mentor Name
Di Wu
Abstract
The concept of Kessler Syndrome concerns the eventuality that increasing amounts of “space junk” in orbit around Earth will inhibit our ability to safely launch spacecraft from the surface of the planet into orbit and/or deep space. While countermeasures are slowly being taken for Earth, this is still an issue that persists for other celestial bodies. One solution that shows promise for solving this problem is utilization of the Yarkovsky Effect, which theorizes that objects in orbit are perturbated by photons as a result of illumination from sunlight. Our goal in this study is to review the feasibility of applying this in conditions that are void of atmospheric drag and perturbed by solar activity such as The Moon. From our review and analysis of the available literature on this hypothesis, we show that the default effect on space debris orbiting Earth is miniscule, but a shift in the semi-major axis of any given piece of debris can be altered by changing the spin axis with respect to the Sun. Another caveat of this theory is that timescales for such perturbations must be large due to the slow rate at which orbits may shift when this technique is utilized. However, in the absence of atmospheric drag, we theorize that Yarkovsky effect is more predominant among possible sinking and decaying mechanisms. Through our investigation, we aim to explain why spherical bodies may be less impacted by the Yarkovsky Effect compared to uneven surfaces. The data referenced from studies are all Earth based data. In the future, we plan to investigate how the impact of the Yarkovsky Effect varies for different materials (in addition to different shapes and roughness); with this research, we hope to provide important insights into finding a solution for Kessler Syndrome via the intersection of orbital dynamics and materials science.
Did this research project receive funding support from the Office of Undergraduate Research.
No
Yarkovsky Effect for Particles in Circumlunar Space
The concept of Kessler Syndrome concerns the eventuality that increasing amounts of “space junk” in orbit around Earth will inhibit our ability to safely launch spacecraft from the surface of the planet into orbit and/or deep space. While countermeasures are slowly being taken for Earth, this is still an issue that persists for other celestial bodies. One solution that shows promise for solving this problem is utilization of the Yarkovsky Effect, which theorizes that objects in orbit are perturbated by photons as a result of illumination from sunlight. Our goal in this study is to review the feasibility of applying this in conditions that are void of atmospheric drag and perturbed by solar activity such as The Moon. From our review and analysis of the available literature on this hypothesis, we show that the default effect on space debris orbiting Earth is miniscule, but a shift in the semi-major axis of any given piece of debris can be altered by changing the spin axis with respect to the Sun. Another caveat of this theory is that timescales for such perturbations must be large due to the slow rate at which orbits may shift when this technique is utilized. However, in the absence of atmospheric drag, we theorize that Yarkovsky effect is more predominant among possible sinking and decaying mechanisms. Through our investigation, we aim to explain why spherical bodies may be less impacted by the Yarkovsky Effect compared to uneven surfaces. The data referenced from studies are all Earth based data. In the future, we plan to investigate how the impact of the Yarkovsky Effect varies for different materials (in addition to different shapes and roughness); with this research, we hope to provide important insights into finding a solution for Kessler Syndrome via the intersection of orbital dynamics and materials science.