Background and Requirements

On October 4, 1957, the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, was successfully launched by the Soviet Union. Over the following sixty years, the pace of human exploration in outer space has accelerated, and the number of spacecraft launches has increased. Throughout their operational lifetimes, spacecraft are subjected to various environmental factors in space, such as vacuum, radiation, high and low temperatures, micrometeoroids and space debris, atomic oxygen, and others. These factors can cause unforeseen damage to spacecraft materials and structures. Spacecraft operating in Earth orbit must undergo detection and evaluation of various damage risks resulting from complex space environmental effects. Therefore, it is necessary to develop advanced non-contact damage detection and evaluation techniques to achieve accurate identification and analysis of spacecraft damage, ensuring their safety and the successful completion of their intended missions.