Quickdart: operational space debris visualization, characterization, and volume modeling

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program for generating a 3-dimensional (3D) model to characterize and visualize debris in real-time, the computer program, when executed, is configured to cause at least one processor to:

• characterize a breakup event, when a breakup event occurs, wherein the characterizing of the breakup event comprising analyzing a set of predicted fragments to determine an upper limit spreading speed for a debris field;
• define boundary elements based on the upper limit spreading speed, the upper limit spreading speed being maximum of all fragment spreading speeds in the debris field, wherein the maximum fragment spreading speed is determined by a fragment in a collection of fragments having maximum speed, and a user selectable percentile of the maximum fragment spreading speed is specified to be a percentile of speeds to be encapsulated;
• create a single bounded 3D mesh comprising of a plurality of segments, wherein each of the plurality of segments comprising a set of slices, each slice within the set of slices comprises the plurality of boundary elements, the creating of the single bounded 3D mesh comprises connecting one or more boundary elements within the slice with each other or connecting one or more boundary elements within the set of slices with each other;
• and
• perform one or more calculations at each time-step and apply color and/or transparency to the 3D model, wherein
• during the performing of the one or more calculations at each time-step, changing positioning of each of the one or more boundary elements with the slice or within the set of slices while maintaining connectivity between each of the one or more boundary elements within the slice or within the set of slices, such that the single bounded 3D mesh remains unchanged, allowing the 3D model to be regenerated by computing updated positioning of each of the one or more boundary elements within the slice or the set of slices at any time of interest.

An apparatus for generating a 3-dimensional (3D) model characterizing and visualizing debris in real-time, comprising:

• memory comprising a set of instructions;
• and
• at least one processor, wherein
• the set of instructions, with the at least one processor, is configured to cause the apparatus to
• characterize a breakup event, when a breakup event occurs, wherein the characterizing of the breakup event comprising analyzing a set of predicted fragments to determine an upper limit spreading speed for a debris field;
• define boundary elements based on the upper limit spreading speed, the upper limit spreading speed being the maximum of all fragment spreading speeds in the debris field, wherein the maximum fragment spreading speed is determined by a fragment in a collection of fragments having maximum speed, and a user selectable percentile of the maximum fragment spreading speed is specified to be a percentile of speeds to be encapsulated;
• create a single bounded 3D mesh comprising of a plurality of segments, wherein each of the plurality of segments comprising a set of slices, each slice within the set of slices comprises the plurality of boundary elements, the creating of the single bounded 3D mesh comprises connecting one or more boundary elements within the slice with each other or connecting one or more boundary elements within the set of slices with each other;
• and
• perform one or more calculations at each time-step and apply color and/or transparency to the 3D model, wherein
• during the performing of the one or more calculations at each time-step, changing positioning of each of the one or more boundary elements with the slice or within the set of slices while maintaining connectivity between each of the one or more boundary elements within the slice or within the set of slices, such that the single bounded 3D mesh remains unchanged, allowing the 3D model to be regenerated by computing updated positioning of each of the one or more boundary elements within the slice or the set of slices at any time of interest.