Destructive Re-entry Simulation

Belstead Research provides state-of-the-art simulation of atmospheric re-entry, fragmentation and demise of spacecraft. In addition to using its advanced in-house SAMj toolkit, it has extensive experience in the use of ESA's DRAMA casualty risk certification tool.

Belstead Research can support all aspects of destructive re-entry simulation and casualty risk assessment, including:

• Construction of representative vehicle / system models in both DRAMA v3 and SAMj.
• Simulation campaign design.
• Execution of both deterministic and probabalistic simulation campaigns using a combination of BRL SAMj, ESA DRAMA and ESA PADRE.
• Simulation results analysis, including the construction of surrogate engineering models and the recommendation of candidates for design-for-demise techniques.

Belstead Research has worked with clients to apply these capabilities in following areas:

• The assessment of payload or mission re-entry casualty risk.
• The design and ESA certification of demisable spacecraft components.
• Fundamental research into the effectiveness of design-for-demise techniques.
• The execution of large scale cloud based stochastic campaigns comprising over 10⁵ individual re-entry assessments.

As a significant European player in the field of destructive re-entry, Belstead Research supports both the European Space Agency and the UK Space Agency, through:

• Consultancy in the development of the ESA demise verification guidelines (DIVE).
• The development of the probabilistic ESA PADRE tool for stochastic assessment of casualty risk.
• Enhancement of the ESA DRAMA casualty risk verification tool.
• Assessment of the destructive re-entry of upper stages in support of UKSA regulation.
• Consultancy on the re-entry risks from the de-orbit of mega-constellations.