USAFA Project B

Title: Innovative Spacecraft Shielding
Advisor: Jason Christopher
Synopsis of Presentation: Investigates the effectiveness of additively manufactured Ultem 9085 as a lightweight shielding solution to protect critical on-orbit assets from micrometeoroids, orbital debris, and adversary threats. By integrating hypervelocity impact testing with validated shock-physics simulations, the study demonstrates that multi-plate shield architectures provide up to 21% mass savings compared to monolithic designs. These results establish a predictive framework for mission-specific and potentially on-orbit fabrication of high-performance, tunable protection systems.