Characterization of micrometeoroid and orbital debris impacts on space structures using deep learning neural networks incorporating experimental and simulated data

Deep Learning Neural Network (DLNN) algorithms are introduced in this work to detect the occurrence of MMOD impacts, determine the location of the impact site, and classify the severity of consequent damage. To address the challenges of limited empirical training data and ensuring robustness to varying test conditions, training DLNN is explored using a mixture of simulated and experimental data. Even with a relatively small training data set, the effectiveness of this approach was demonstrated for characterizing low velocity impacts on representative Whipple shielding structures.