Dr. Kira Abercromby is a professor in the Aerospace Engineering department of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She previously worked at NASA Johnson doing ongoing work from her PhD where her thesis was titled: Using Reflectance Spectroscopy to Determine Material Type of Orbital Debris.
In this episode we cover the following topics: Space debris environment, deorbit regulations, geostationary (GEO) vs. Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) debris, geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) rocket bodies, hypervelocity impacts, whipple shields, Space Shuttle windows impacts, spacecraft environments, solar radiation, Ultraviolet (UV) light, Earth’s magnetic field protection from solar radiation, Atomic oxygen (AO) in the upper atmosphere, AO and UV synergistic effects, micrometeoroid impacts / flux, Earth-based observations, Radar and optical telescopes, In-space observations Orbit determination methods, Lambert’s problem, 3+ vector orbit determination sngles only orbit determination, NASA orbit modeling software (EVOLVE and ORDEM96), Anti-Satellite (ASAT) tests effects on orbital debris, GPS satellite solar panel debris, spectroscopy for identification of orbital debris materials, atmospheric water interference in infrared wavelengths, ODERACS spheres calibration mission, glare effects on observations, electromagnetic spectrum regions, Apollo rocket body observations, space environment effects on materials, What it's like to do a PhD in aerospace engineering, Becoming a Cal Poly SLO Professor.
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