Feasibility of Space Vehicle Debris Hazard Airspace Stratification

"This paper studies the feasibility of applying altitude stratification to the estimation of the extent of the airspace containing falling debris due to a space vehicle breakup. A precise computation of propagation of debris to the ground is not practical for many reasons. There is insufficient knowledge of the initial state vector, ambient wind conditions, and the key parameters including the maximum and minimum ballistic coefficients. In addition, propagation of all debris pieces to the ground would require extensive computer time. In this paper, we study the feasibility in terms of the technical computational constraints needed to identify hazarded altitude layers at different times. We describe all assumptions employed along with their justification. Moreover, we demonstrate the sensitivity of the results to the values of key parameters including the maximum and minimum ballistic coefficients of the vehicle debris, and ambient wind conditions."--From the paper, copyright AIAA.