Space Apps Challenge 2018

Now days , Determination of micrometeoroid/orbital debris (MMOD) impact on orbiting spacecraft requires visual inspection. For human-rated spacecraft such as the ISS and more ..

this has required crew time as well as vehicle assets to identify damage due to MMOD strikes

And with the high augmentation of orbital debris since 1960

We became conscious of the necessity of devices that limits mmod damage inspection time and reduces the humain involvement.

That’s why we created Sauron

, a free-flyer that imitates the bat soundwave scouting system.

But because sound is a mechanical wave that doest propagate in the vacuum

Sauren intends to exploit electromagnetic waves by using 3d laser scanning technology to detect and analyse mmod impact on spacecrafts in an optimal time without the requirement of humain assistance .

1 - Laser scanning process :

• How it works :

The laser probe projects a line of laser light onto the surface

(img.1)generating a XYZ coordinates for each point captured to create a point cloud sample ( up to 1.000.000 point/sec/m²) of the scanned area (img.2)

• application:

To calculate the time needed to scan the whole surface

Where T: time needed to scan the whole area

S : the surface of the spacecraft

N : number of 3d scanners

We took iss as an example so we tried to calculate its whole surface area by using a 3d model in 1/100 scale

That it gives us a surface equivalent to 1m² * 100² = 10.000 m²

After doing a simulation we concluded that we need from 4 to 6 scanners to cover the whole surface so

S=10000 m²

N=5 scanners

So T = 2000sec = 33 min 20 sec