A comparison of commonly used re-entry analysis tools

Most spacecraft or rocket bodies re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, controlled or uncontrolled, do not demise completely during re-entry. Fragments of these re-entry objects survive and reach the ground where they pose a risk to people. Re-entry tools have been developed all over the world in order to calculate the destruction processes and to assess the resulting ground risk. This paper describes the NASA re-entry analysis tools DAS (Debris Assessment Software) and ORSAT (Object Re-entry Survival Analysis Tool), and the ESA tools SCARAB (Spacecraft Atmospheric Re-entry and Aero-thermal Breakup) and SESAM (Spacecraft Entry Survival Analysis Module). Results calculated with these tools are compared in order to identify the major differences. Final recommendations are given in order to improve these tools and to minimize the identified differences.