Space debris is a major concern for both government and industry space assets. Withmore debris posing a danger to vital communications, scientific and military satellites,cataloguing the space debris environment is a growing problem. The existing ground-based technology, however, is limited to sensing space debris particles which arelarger than l cm. While the up-and-coming 'Space Fence' will have the ability to de-tect smaller particles, it will primarily use this information to warn satellite operators iftheir satellite is in danger. However, there is an unmet need to provide in -situ data forscientists in order to characterize the space debris environment to a higher fidelity.In particular, there is a significant gap in knowledge about particles smaller than l cm.These particles may cause damage to operational satellites: hits from space dust anddebris particles of only 0.01 cm in diameter have required that Space Shuttle windowsbe replaced; 0.02 cm particles have penetrated astronaut EVA suits. Unfortunately,not much is known about this particle size range other than experiments which areanalyzed once they have returned to Earth (such as LDEF and MISSE). There hasnot, to this time, been an in-situ small particle measurement method which providesdata collection of sub-millimeter particles while on orbit.The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) is developing a 3U CubeSat to satisfythis in-situ data collection need. CubeSats are relatively inexpensive compared tolarger nano- or micro-satellites and have a higher ability to launch quickly. This paperexplores the importance of studying small space debris particles in general as well asthe ability of CubeSats to provide this service. A case study of a current satellite pro-ject at UT-Austin is presented which employs a 3U CubeSat to study the sub-millimeter space debris size range and provide in-situ data collection using a piezoe-lectric dust detector. The case study concludes with a grassroots cost analysis of 3UCubeSat production costs as compared to traditional cost models used in the aero-space industry. This comprehensive case study shows the 3U CubeSat as a viableplatform for missions studying space debris.
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