Advances in the Whipple Shield Design and Development:

Abstract

Safety of satellites as well as spacecrafts during space missions is a primary objective to preserve the physical and virtual assets onboard. Whipple shields belong to the class of protective equipment provided on the surface of the spacecrafts and satellites, to sustain impacts from the ultra-high speed debris, which can otherwise cause considerable damage to the corresponding structures. Recent works on whipple shields are focussed on determining the response of different geometrical arrangements and material properties under hyper-velocity impact at projectile speeds of 3-18 km/s. Advances in the whipple shield design include integrated and mechanised models employing high performance materials like fiber-metal laminates ensuring better operational capability. The forward bumper of the whipple shield is the first line of defence as it regulates the state of projectile after the primary impact. Use of aluminium alloys for front bumpers is popular, owing to their lightweight and strength characteristics. The advances for the front bumper have seen usage of ceramic, metallic foams, and super composite mixtures, which resulted in enhanced performance, durability and safety of the whipple shields. This work is a comprehensive coverage of the latest materials used for whipple shields, their performance characterization—both experimental and theoretical, and applications.

Fiber metal laminates for high strain rate applications with layerwise shock impedance tuning

“…The cross-sections of the tested specimens were inspected using optical microscopy (make: Olympus BX53M) and scanning electron microscopy (make: Zeiss EVO). A regression analysis was carried out between the Transmission Loss displayed by the sequences in our previous work 3 , and the shock energy absorption by the respective sequences at the two strain rates. To conduct the regression analysis, the MINITAB ® software was used.…”

“…Shielding structures designed for protection against ballistic, shockwave and blastwave impact suffer enormous material deformation in negligible time 12 , 13 . One of the shielding applications include whipple shields which protect the satellites and spacecrafts against hyper-velocity impact 14 . Thus, the mechanical response of such structures under dynamic loading conditions and high strain rates is vital from the aspect of engineering design.…”

“…Transmission loss (dB) for ith reading N Number of values of transmission loss readings for the sequence Fiber-metal laminates (FMLs) comprising alternately layered metallic with fiber-reinforced polymer laminae are found in several applications like aerospace, automotive, buildings, and shielding structures. Commonly utilized fiber-metal laminates include ARALL, CARALL and GLARE with superior impact resistance and fatigue performance [1][2][3] . During the regular operation, the structures may be subjected to spontaneous impact events like crash or collison in the case of aircrafts and automobiles [4][5][6] , while buildings may be subjected to seismic activities like earthquakes 7 .…”

Astrobiology eXploration at Enceladus (AXE): A New Frontiers Mission Concept Study

“…Calculations incorporating the AXE spacecraft's mass and relative velocity yielded lower-energy impacts than those incurred during Cassini's flythroughs of the Enceladus plume, which previously established precedent for plume sampling without negatively impacting mission success. Multilayer insulation in the proposed spacecraft design, as well as the inclusion of a Whipple shield if necessary (Pai et al 2022), would provide additional protection from micrometeorite and ice/dust grain impacts. The proposed mission architecture Two lower-likelihood risks were also identified.…”

Hybrid Shielding for Hypervelocity Impact of Orbital Debris on Unmanned Spacecraft

“…More recently, Pai and Shenoy [13] presented a detailed review of recent advances in the Whipple shield design, noting that debris channelling (also referred to as ejectatunnelling effect) should be considered in the design process of Whipple shields, and can be detrimental to the energy dissipation and mechanisms.…”