Evasive maneuvers in space debris environment and technological parameters

In this paper we present the results of a study of collision dynamics between space debris and operational vehicles. We adopted an approach based on the relative dynamics between the objects on a collisional course with short warning time and established a semi-analytical solution for the final trajectories of these objects. The results showed that there are angular ranges in 2D and 3D, in addition to the initial conditions, that favor the collisions. These results allowed the investigation of a range of technological parameters of the spacecraft (e.g, fuel reserve) that allow a safe evasive maneuver (e.g, time available for the maneuver). The numerical model was tested for many different values of the impact velocity and relative distance between the approaching objects.