Development of a surface reconstruction model for re-entry objects. More than 300 tonnes of spacecraft re-enter Earth's atmosphere each year, with about 30% of this surviving re-entry; posing risk to

Description

Development of a surface reconstruction model for re-entry objects. More than 300 tonnes of spacecraft re-enter Earth's atmosphere each year, with about 30% of this surviving re-entry; posing risk to people, property and transport. Currently, the ground risk for an object is estimated prior to launch, however the numerical tools used for this analysis require the estimation of what altitude objects are released, and what these objects are. This project will develop a surface reconstruction model that uses the light emitted from the surface of the re-entering objects to: spatially resolve their surface temperature; and can identify objects during a re-entry break-up event, both of which are required to provide much-needed validation data for the numerical tools used to assess the ground risk of re-entry.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4001 - Aerospace Engineering. Lead: Dr Byrenn Birch