Peter Swan

Today's Space Elevator Assured Survivability Approach for Space Debris Peter Swan

This study was designed to take the concept of Space Elevators and answer some questions relative to space debris. The team built upon the 2010 study on the topic and addressed many other issues to include: - The probabilities of orbital conjunctions between a space elevator and debris in Low Earth Orbit, Geo Earth Orbit, and Medium Earth Orbit. - The growth rate of space debris as it threatens operational space elevator (2010, 2019, 2030)? - Mitigation of risk for the space community through design, policies, operations, and lowering the threat. This year's study topic focused upon calculations for potential conjunction probabilities from densities of debris for 2010, 2019, and 2030. ""Space debris mitigation is an engineering problem with definable quantities such as density of debris and lengths/widths of targets. With proper knowledge and good operational procedures, the threat of space debris is not a show-stopper. However, mitigation approaches must be accepted and implemented robustly.""