Quantifying the Effects of an In-Orbit Fragmentation of Space Objects: An Environmental Index for the Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) Services

In the framework of the Fragmentation Service of the European SST system, it is important to quickly assess whether a fragmentation event is posing an immediate threat to the assets orbiting in close-by regions of space and if it is going to stress the capabilities of the surveillance network. The derivation of an analytically computable index, able to quantify the severity of an event under these points of view, can help the SST system to better deal with these unexpected events.