Smallsat manufacturer and mission integrator Kongsberg NanoAvionics (“NanoAvionics”) has reported that one of its MP42 microsatellites got hit by a piece of micrometeoroid or orbital debris (MMOD).
Despite the 6mm hole, the size of a chickpea, punched into a solar cell, the satellite and its payloads did not experience any ramifications on performance. As its functionality wasn’t disturbed, it is unclear when exactly the impact happened.
The company, a signatory of ESA’s Zero Debris Charter, only noticed the damage due to images downloaded from the onboard modified GoPro action camera installed to take satellite selfies.
The MP42 satellite was launched into low Earth orbit (LEO) on the SpaceX Transporter-4 mission two and a half years ago.
Kristupas Krapavickas, head of mission control at NanoAvionics, said: “The incident highlights the need to make sure satellites are robust, and measures and regulations are in place to allow longtime orbital safety and sustainability. And while in this case the object hitting the satellite was too small to be tracked, using collision avoidance can safeguard satellites from conjunctions.”
“Space sustainability is paramount,” Krapavickas said. “NanoAvionics is therefore committed to building reliable hardware that we extensively test to ensure our manufactured satellites don”t become space junk before the end of their mission.
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