Cloud of Space Debris from a Close Approach with the Jupiter

Resumo

Since the launch of the first satellite in 1957, there is a large expansion in findings related to space, due to the great advances in space technology obtained in the last decades. The artificial satellites launched are used for several purposes, including the observations of the Earth, climate monitoring, studies of the atmosphere and the Earth’s gravitational field. The present paper has the goal of studying the modifications of the orbital parameters of each individual element of a cloud of particles that makes a close approach with the Jupiter. Clouds of particles are formed when natural or man-made bodies exploded for some reason. After an explosion like that, the center of mass of the cloud follows the same orbit of the body the generated the explosion, but the individual particles have different trajectories. The cloud is specified by a distribution of semi-major axis and eccentricity of their particles. This cloud is assumed to pass close to the Earth, making a close approach that modifies the trajectory of every particle that belongs to the cloud. The present paper makes simulations based in the “Patched-Conics” model to obtain the new trajectories of each particle. Then, it is possible to map the new distribution of the Keplerian elements of the particles, using the previous distribution as initial conditions. Those information are important when planning satellite missions that have a spacecraft passing close to the cloud, because it is possible to obtain values for the density and amplitude of the cloud, so finding the risks of collision and the possible maneuvers that need to be made to avoid the collisions.