A hypervelocity debris simulating technique with laser driven flyer

This paper describes a relatively new method to simulate space debris by the laser driven flyer technique. A neodymium-glass pulsed laser was used in this work, capable of up 20 joules in 20 nanoseconds. A 2mm diameter, 66micron thick aluminum flyer was accelerated to 3km/s with the technique. The hypervelocity impact test on some space materials has been completed at Beijing Institute of Satellite Environment Engineering. It is successful to conduct an initial investigation of impact damage for thermal control paints and graphite/epoxy composite.