Space Debris Mitigation, including technologies and strategies to reduce
and manage space debris in Earth's orbit: Space Debris Mitigation:
Mathematical Problems
1. If a satellite's cross-sectional area is 2 m² and the flux of debris particles is 5 particles/m²/year, how
many impacts can be expected in 3 years?
A) 10 B) 20 C) 30 D) 40
Answer: C) 30
2. A space debris removal mission aims to deorbit 5 large debris objects per year. If the current count
is 500 objects, how many years will it take to reduce the population by 25%?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: B) 25
3. If the average collision probability between two objects in LEO is 1 in 10,000 per year, what is the
probability of a collision occurring in a 5-year period?
A) 1 in 2,000 B) 1 in 5,000 C) 1 in 8,000 D) 1 in 10,000
Answer: A) 1 in 2,000
4. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 1 cm³ of material per pulse. If a piece of debris
has a volume of 125 cm³, how many pulses are needed to completely vaporize it?
A) 100 B) 125 C) 150 D) 175
Answer: B) 125
5. If the cost of launching a debris removal satellite is $50 million and it can remove 10 large debris
objects, what is the cost per object removed?
A) $5 million B) $10 million C) $15 million D) $20 million
Answer: A) $5 million
6. A space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1 cm in diameter. If the shield
area is 10 m² and the flux of particles larger than 1 cm is 0.1 particles/m²/year, how many years will it
take, on average, for the shield to be penetrated?
A) 1 year B) 10 years C) 100 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 100 years
7. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of failure per
year due to debris impact, how many satellites can be expected to fail in 5 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: A) 5
8. A debris removal system can change the orbit of objects at a rate of 10 km/day. How long will it
take to lower an object's orbit by 300 km?
A) 20 days B) 25 days C) 30 days D) 35 days
Answer: C) 30 days
9. If the cost of space debris mitigation measures adds 5% to a satellite's total cost, and a satellite
costs $100 million, how much extra is spent on debris mitigation?
A) $1 million B) $3 million C) $5 million D) $7 million
Answer: C) $5 million
10. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 5 cm. If there are 20,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 10 for each halving of size, how many
objects can this system potentially track?
A) 200,000 B) 400,000 C) 600,000 D) 800,000
Answer: D) 800,000
11. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 5 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 10 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
12. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 2 months. How many pieces can it
remove in 3 years?
A) 12 B) 18 C) 24 D) 30
Answer: B) 18
13. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in LEO is 1% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 10 years?
A) 90.4% B) 95.1% C) 97.5% D) 99.0%
Answer: A) 90.4%
14. A debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 50 large debris objects. If
each object has a 2% chance per year of causing a catastrophic collision costing $1 billion, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 1:1 B) 2:1 C) 3:1 D) 4:1
Answer: D) 4:1
15. If a satellite generates 10 debris particles per year and there are 1000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 5 years?
A) 25,000 B) 50,000 C) 75,000 D) 100,000
Answer: B) 50,000
16. A debris removal system can process 1 ton of material per month. If there are 8000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 25% of the debris?
A) 15 years B) 20 years C) 25 years D) 30 years
Answer: B) 20 years
17. If the average velocity of debris in LEO is 7.5 km/s and a piece of debris is 1 cm in diameter, what
is its kinetic energy in joules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 500 J B) 1000 J C) 1500 J D) 2000 J
Answer: B) 1000 J
18. A space debris removal mission has a 80% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 3 out of 5 attempts?
A) 0.73 B) 0.83 C) 0.93 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.93
19. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.5% chance of generating
debris per year, how many debris-generating events can be expected in 10 years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
20. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 2 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 1-2 mm is 10 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 5
m² satellite over 5 years?
A) 0.78 B) 0.88 C) 0.92 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.92
21. If the cost of a debris removal mission is inversely proportional to the size of the debris, and it
costs $10 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 5 m object?
A) $1 million B) $2 million C) $3 million D) $4 million
Answer: B) $2 million
22. A space-based laser can deflect debris at a rate of 1 cm/s. How long will it take to change the
velocity of a piece of debris by 100 m/s?
A) 2.5 hours B) 2.5 days C) 2.5 weeks D) 2.5 months
Answer: C) 2.5 weeks
23. If the number of debris objects increases by 5% annually, how many years will it take for the
population to double?
A) 10 years B) 12 years C) 14 years D) 16 years
Answer: C) 14 years
24. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 500 m/s per year. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 2 km/s away, how many years will it take?
A) 2 years B) 3 years C) 4 years D) 5 years
Answer: C) 4 years
25. If a space debris cleanup mission has a 70% chance of success and costs $50 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $35 million B) $50 million C) $65 million D) $71.4 million
Answer: D) $71.4 million
26. A satellite has a cross-sectional area of 10 m² and is in an orbit with a debris flux of 0.1
impacts/m²/year. What is the probability of no impacts over 5 years?
A) 0.37 B) 0.47 C) 0.57 D) 0.67
Answer: A) 0.37
27. If a debris removal system can process 100 kg of material per day, how long will it take to remove
10 tons of debris?
A) 50 days B) 100 days C) 150 days D) 200 days
Answer: B) 100 days
28. A space debris shield weighs 5 kg/m². If a satellite has a surface area of 20 m², how much extra
mass is added by the shield?
A) 50 kg B) 75 kg C) 100 kg D) 125 kg
Answer: C) 100 kg
29. If the probability of a collision between two specific satellites is 1 in 1,000,000 per day, what is
the probability of a collision occurring in 1 year?
A) 1 in 2,740 B) 1 in 3,650 C) 1 in 4,560 D) 1 in 5,470
Answer: A) 1 in 2,740
30. A debris removal system can change the velocity of objects by 10 m/s per operation. If an object
needs its velocity changed by 300 m/s to deorbit, how many operations are needed?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: C) 30
31. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of colliding with
debris per year, how many collisions can be expected in 10 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: B) 10
32. A space debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 40 large debris
objects. If each object has a 1% chance per year of causing a $500 million collision, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 0.5:1 B) 1:1 C) 1.5:1 D) 2:1
Answer: B) 1:1
33. If the number of debris objects in LEO is currently 20,000 and increases by 3% annually, how
many objects will there be after 20 years?
A) 32,000 B) 36,000 C) 40,000 D) 44,000
Answer: B) 36,000
34. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 200 m/s per month. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 3 km/s away, how many months will it take?
A) 10 months B) 12 months C) 15 months D) 18 months
Answer: C) 15 months
35. If a space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1.5 cm in diameter, and the
flux of particles larger than this is 0.05 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration
for a 4 m² satellite over 3 years?
A) 0.40 B) 0.45 C) 0.50 D) 0.55
Answer: B) 0.45
36. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 0.5 cm³ of material per second. How long will it
take to completely vaporize a debris object with a volume of 1000 cm³?
A) 25 minutes B) 30 minutes C) 33.3 minutes D) 36.6 minutes
Answer: C) 33.3 minutes
37. If the cost of a debris removal mission is proportional to the square root of the debris size, and it
costs $4 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 9 m object?
A) $8 million B) $12 million C) $16 million D) $20 million
Answer: B) $12 million
38. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 45 days. How many pieces can it remove
in 2.5 years?
A) 15 B) 18 C) 20 D) 22
Answer: C) 20
39. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 3 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 15 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 30 B) 35 C) 40 D) 45
Answer: D) 45
40. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 1 cm. If there are 30,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 100 for each order of magnitude
decrease in size, how many objects can this system potentially track?
A) 3,000,000 B) 30,000,000 C) 300,000,000 D) 3,000,000,000
Answer: C) 300,000,000
41. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in GEO is 0.5% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 20 years?
A) 80.5% B) 85.5% C) 90.5% D) 95.5%
Answer: C) 90.5%
42. A debris removal system can process 2 tons of material per year. If there are 9000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 20% of the debris?
A) 700 years B) 800 years C) 900 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 900 years
43. If a satellite generates 5 debris particles per year and there are 2000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 8 years?
A) 60,000 B) 70,000 C) 80,000 D) 90,000
Answer: C) 80,000
44. A space debris removal mission has a 75% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 4 out of 6 attempts?
A) 0.63 B) 0.73 C) 0.83 D) 0.93
Answer: C) 0.83
45. If the average velocity of debris in GEO is 3 km/s and a piece of debris is 5 cm in diameter, what is
its kinetic energy in kilojoules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 20 kJ B) 40 kJ C) 60 kJ D) 80 kJ
Answer: C) 60 kJ
46. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 3 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 2-3 mm is 5 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 2
m² satellite over 4 years?
A) 0.28 B) 0.38 C) 0.48 D) 0.58
Answer: C) 0.48
47. If a space debris cleanup mission has an 80% chance of success and costs $80 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $80 million B) $90 million C) $100 million D) $110 million
Answer: C) $100 million
2. A space debris removal mission aims to deorbit 5 large debris objects per year. If the current count
is 500 objects, how many years will it take to reduce the population by 25%?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: B) 25
3. If the average collision probability between two objects in LEO is 1 in 10,000 per year, what is the
probability of a collision occurring in a 5-year period?
A) 1 in 2,000 B) 1 in 5,000 C) 1 in 8,000 D) 1 in 10,000
Answer: A) 1 in 2,000
4. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 1 cm³ of material per pulse. If a piece of debris
has a volume of 125 cm³, how many pulses are needed to completely vaporize it?
A) 100 B) 125 C) 150 D) 175
Answer: B) 125
5. If the cost of launching a debris removal satellite is $50 million and it can remove 10 large debris
objects, what is the cost per object removed?
A) $5 million B) $10 million C) $15 million D) $20 million
Answer: A) $5 million
6. A space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1 cm in diameter. If the shield
area is 10 m² and the flux of particles larger than 1 cm is 0.1 particles/m²/year, how many years will it
take, on average, for the shield to be penetrated?
A) 1 year B) 10 years C) 100 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 100 years
7. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of failure per
year due to debris impact, how many satellites can be expected to fail in 5 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: A) 5
8. A debris removal system can change the orbit of objects at a rate of 10 km/day. How long will it
take to lower an object's orbit by 300 km?
A) 20 days B) 25 days C) 30 days D) 35 days
Answer: C) 30 days
9. If the cost of space debris mitigation measures adds 5% to a satellite's total cost, and a satellite
costs $100 million, how much extra is spent on debris mitigation?
A) $1 million B) $3 million C) $5 million D) $7 million
Answer: C) $5 million
10. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 5 cm. If there are 20,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 10 for each halving of size, how many
objects can this system potentially track?
A) 200,000 B) 400,000 C) 600,000 D) 800,000
Answer: D) 800,000
11. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 5 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 10 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
12. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 2 months. How many pieces can it
remove in 3 years?
A) 12 B) 18 C) 24 D) 30
Answer: B) 18
13. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in LEO is 1% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 10 years?
A) 90.4% B) 95.1% C) 97.5% D) 99.0%
Answer: A) 90.4%
14. A debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 50 large debris objects. If
each object has a 2% chance per year of causing a catastrophic collision costing $1 billion, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 1:1 B) 2:1 C) 3:1 D) 4:1
Answer: D) 4:1
15. If a satellite generates 10 debris particles per year and there are 1000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 5 years?
A) 25,000 B) 50,000 C) 75,000 D) 100,000
Answer: B) 50,000
16. A debris removal system can process 1 ton of material per month. If there are 8000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 25% of the debris?
A) 15 years B) 20 years C) 25 years D) 30 years
Answer: B) 20 years
17. If the average velocity of debris in LEO is 7.5 km/s and a piece of debris is 1 cm in diameter, what
is its kinetic energy in joules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 500 J B) 1000 J C) 1500 J D) 2000 J
Answer: B) 1000 J
18. A space debris removal mission has a 80% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 3 out of 5 attempts?
A) 0.73 B) 0.83 C) 0.93 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.93
19. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.5% chance of generating
debris per year, how many debris-generating events can be expected in 10 years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
20. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 2 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 1-2 mm is 10 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 5
m² satellite over 5 years?
A) 0.78 B) 0.88 C) 0.92 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.92
21. If the cost of a debris removal mission is inversely proportional to the size of the debris, and it
costs $10 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 5 m object?
A) $1 million B) $2 million C) $3 million D) $4 million
Answer: B) $2 million
22. A space-based laser can deflect debris at a rate of 1 cm/s. How long will it take to change the
velocity of a piece of debris by 100 m/s?
A) 2.5 hours B) 2.5 days C) 2.5 weeks D) 2.5 months
Answer: C) 2.5 weeks
23. If the number of debris objects increases by 5% annually, how many years will it take for the
population to double?
A) 10 years B) 12 years C) 14 years D) 16 years
Answer: C) 14 years
24. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 500 m/s per year. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 2 km/s away, how many years will it take?
A) 2 years B) 3 years C) 4 years D) 5 years
Answer: C) 4 years
25. If a space debris cleanup mission has a 70% chance of success and costs $50 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $35 million B) $50 million C) $65 million D) $71.4 million
Answer: D) $71.4 million
26. A satellite has a cross-sectional area of 10 m² and is in an orbit with a debris flux of 0.1
impacts/m²/year. What is the probability of no impacts over 5 years?
A) 0.37 B) 0.47 C) 0.57 D) 0.67
Answer: A) 0.37
27. If a debris removal system can process 100 kg of material per day, how long will it take to remove
10 tons of debris?
A) 50 days B) 100 days C) 150 days D) 200 days
Answer: B) 100 days
28. A space debris shield weighs 5 kg/m². If a satellite has a surface area of 20 m², how much extra
mass is added by the shield?
A) 50 kg B) 75 kg C) 100 kg D) 125 kg
Answer: C) 100 kg
29. If the probability of a collision between two specific satellites is 1 in 1,000,000 per day, what is
the probability of a collision occurring in 1 year?
A) 1 in 2,740 B) 1 in 3,650 C) 1 in 4,560 D) 1 in 5,470
Answer: A) 1 in 2,740
30. A debris removal system can change the velocity of objects by 10 m/s per operation. If an object
needs its velocity changed by 300 m/s to deorbit, how many operations are needed?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: C) 30
31. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of colliding with
debris per year, how many collisions can be expected in 10 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: B) 10
32. A space debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 40 large debris
objects. If each object has a 1% chance per year of causing a $500 million collision, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 0.5:1 B) 1:1 C) 1.5:1 D) 2:1
Answer: B) 1:1
33. If the number of debris objects in LEO is currently 20,000 and increases by 3% annually, how
many objects will there be after 20 years?
A) 32,000 B) 36,000 C) 40,000 D) 44,000
Answer: B) 36,000
34. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 200 m/s per month. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 3 km/s away, how many months will it take?
A) 10 months B) 12 months C) 15 months D) 18 months
Answer: C) 15 months
35. If a space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1.5 cm in diameter, and the
flux of particles larger than this is 0.05 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration
for a 4 m² satellite over 3 years?
A) 0.40 B) 0.45 C) 0.50 D) 0.55
Answer: B) 0.45
36. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 0.5 cm³ of material per second. How long will it
take to completely vaporize a debris object with a volume of 1000 cm³?
A) 25 minutes B) 30 minutes C) 33.3 minutes D) 36.6 minutes
Answer: C) 33.3 minutes
37. If the cost of a debris removal mission is proportional to the square root of the debris size, and it
costs $4 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 9 m object?
A) $8 million B) $12 million C) $16 million D) $20 million
Answer: B) $12 million
38. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 45 days. How many pieces can it remove
in 2.5 years?
A) 15 B) 18 C) 20 D) 22
Answer: C) 20
39. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 3 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 15 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 30 B) 35 C) 40 D) 45
Answer: D) 45
40. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 1 cm. If there are 30,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 100 for each order of magnitude
decrease in size, how many objects can this system potentially track?
A) 3,000,000 B) 30,000,000 C) 300,000,000 D) 3,000,000,000
Answer: C) 300,000,000
41. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in GEO is 0.5% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 20 years?
A) 80.5% B) 85.5% C) 90.5% D) 95.5%
Answer: C) 90.5%
42. A debris removal system can process 2 tons of material per year. If there are 9000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 20% of the debris?
A) 700 years B) 800 years C) 900 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 900 years
43. If a satellite generates 5 debris particles per year and there are 2000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 8 years?
A) 60,000 B) 70,000 C) 80,000 D) 90,000
Answer: C) 80,000
44. A space debris removal mission has a 75% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 4 out of 6 attempts?
A) 0.63 B) 0.73 C) 0.83 D) 0.93
Answer: C) 0.83
45. If the average velocity of debris in GEO is 3 km/s and a piece of debris is 5 cm in diameter, what is
its kinetic energy in kilojoules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 20 kJ B) 40 kJ C) 60 kJ D) 80 kJ
Answer: C) 60 kJ
46. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 3 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 2-3 mm is 5 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 2
m² satellite over 4 years?
A) 0.28 B) 0.38 C) 0.48 D) 0.58
Answer: C) 0.48
47. If a space debris cleanup mission has an 80% chance of success and costs $80 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $80 million B) $90 million C) $100 million D) $110 million
Answer: C) $100 million
2. A space debris removal mission aims to deorbit 5 large debris objects per year. If the current count
is 500 objects, how many years will it take to reduce the population by 25%?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: B) 25
3. If the average collision probability between two objects in LEO is 1 in 10,000 per year, what is the
probability of a collision occurring in a 5-year period?
A) 1 in 2,000 B) 1 in 5,000 C) 1 in 8,000 D) 1 in 10,000
Answer: A) 1 in 2,000
4. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 1 cm³ of material per pulse. If a piece of debris
has a volume of 125 cm³, how many pulses are needed to completely vaporize it?
A) 100 B) 125 C) 150 D) 175
Answer: B) 125
5. If the cost of launching a debris removal satellite is $50 million and it can remove 10 large debris
objects, what is the cost per object removed?
A) $5 million B) $10 million C) $15 million D) $20 million
Answer: A) $5 million
6. A space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1 cm in diameter. If the shield
area is 10 m² and the flux of particles larger than 1 cm is 0.1 particles/m²/year, how many years will it
take, on average, for the shield to be penetrated?
A) 1 year B) 10 years C) 100 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 100 years
7. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of failure per
year due to debris impact, how many satellites can be expected to fail in 5 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: A) 5
8. A debris removal system can change the orbit of objects at a rate of 10 km/day. How long will it
take to lower an object's orbit by 300 km?
A) 20 days B) 25 days C) 30 days D) 35 days
Answer: C) 30 days
9. If the cost of space debris mitigation measures adds 5% to a satellite's total cost, and a satellite
costs $100 million, how much extra is spent on debris mitigation?
A) $1 million B) $3 million C) $5 million D) $7 million
Answer: C) $5 million
10. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 5 cm. If there are 20,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 10 for each halving of size, how many
objects can this system potentially track?
A) 200,000 B) 400,000 C) 600,000 D) 800,000
Answer: D) 800,000
11. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 5 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 10 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
12. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 2 months. How many pieces can it
remove in 3 years?
A) 12 B) 18 C) 24 D) 30
Answer: B) 18
13. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in LEO is 1% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 10 years?
A) 90.4% B) 95.1% C) 97.5% D) 99.0%
Answer: A) 90.4%
14. A debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 50 large debris objects. If
each object has a 2% chance per year of causing a catastrophic collision costing $1 billion, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 1:1 B) 2:1 C) 3:1 D) 4:1
Answer: D) 4:1
15. If a satellite generates 10 debris particles per year and there are 1000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 5 years?
A) 25,000 B) 50,000 C) 75,000 D) 100,000
Answer: B) 50,000
16. A debris removal system can process 1 ton of material per month. If there are 8000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 25% of the debris?
A) 15 years B) 20 years C) 25 years D) 30 years
Answer: B) 20 years
17. If the average velocity of debris in LEO is 7.5 km/s and a piece of debris is 1 cm in diameter, what
is its kinetic energy in joules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 500 J B) 1000 J C) 1500 J D) 2000 J
Answer: B) 1000 J
18. A space debris removal mission has a 80% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 3 out of 5 attempts?
A) 0.73 B) 0.83 C) 0.93 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.93
19. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.5% chance of generating
debris per year, how many debris-generating events can be expected in 10 years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
20. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 2 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 1-2 mm is 10 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 5
m² satellite over 5 years?
A) 0.78 B) 0.88 C) 0.92 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.92
21. If the cost of a debris removal mission is inversely proportional to the size of the debris, and it
costs $10 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 5 m object?
A) $1 million B) $2 million C) $3 million D) $4 million
Answer: B) $2 million
22. A space-based laser can deflect debris at a rate of 1 cm/s. How long will it take to change the
velocity of a piece of debris by 100 m/s?
A) 2.5 hours B) 2.5 days C) 2.5 weeks D) 2.5 months
Answer: C) 2.5 weeks
23. If the number of debris objects increases by 5% annually, how many years will it take for the
population to double?
A) 10 years B) 12 years C) 14 years D) 16 years
Answer: C) 14 years
24. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 500 m/s per year. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 2 km/s away, how many years will it take?
A) 2 years B) 3 years C) 4 years D) 5 years
Answer: C) 4 years
25. If a space debris cleanup mission has a 70% chance of success and costs $50 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $35 million B) $50 million C) $65 million D) $71.4 million
Answer: D) $71.4 million
26. A satellite has a cross-sectional area of 10 m² and is in an orbit with a debris flux of 0.1
impacts/m²/year. What is the probability of no impacts over 5 years?
A) 0.37 B) 0.47 C) 0.57 D) 0.67
Answer: A) 0.37
27. If a debris removal system can process 100 kg of material per day, how long will it take to remove
10 tons of debris?
A) 50 days B) 100 days C) 150 days D) 200 days
Answer: B) 100 days
28. A space debris shield weighs 5 kg/m². If a satellite has a surface area of 20 m², how much extra
mass is added by the shield?
A) 50 kg B) 75 kg C) 100 kg D) 125 kg
Answer: C) 100 kg
29. If the probability of a collision between two specific satellites is 1 in 1,000,000 per day, what is
the probability of a collision occurring in 1 year?
A) 1 in 2,740 B) 1 in 3,650 C) 1 in 4,560 D) 1 in 5,470
Answer: A) 1 in 2,740
30. A debris removal system can change the velocity of objects by 10 m/s per operation. If an object
needs its velocity changed by 300 m/s to deorbit, how many operations are needed?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: C) 30
31. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of colliding with
debris per year, how many collisions can be expected in 10 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: B) 10
32. A space debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 40 large debris
objects. If each object has a 1% chance per year of causing a $500 million collision, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 0.5:1 B) 1:1 C) 1.5:1 D) 2:1
Answer: B) 1:1
33. If the number of debris objects in LEO is currently 20,000 and increases by 3% annually, how
many objects will there be after 20 years?
A) 32,000 B) 36,000 C) 40,000 D) 44,000
Answer: B) 36,000
34. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 200 m/s per month. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 3 km/s away, how many months will it take?
A) 10 months B) 12 months C) 15 months D) 18 months
Answer: C) 15 months
35. If a space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1.5 cm in diameter, and the
flux of particles larger than this is 0.05 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration
for a 4 m² satellite over 3 years?
A) 0.40 B) 0.45 C) 0.50 D) 0.55
Answer: B) 0.45
36. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 0.5 cm³ of material per second. How long will it
take to completely vaporize a debris object with a volume of 1000 cm³?
A) 25 minutes B) 30 minutes C) 33.3 minutes D) 36.6 minutes
Answer: C) 33.3 minutes
37. If the cost of a debris removal mission is proportional to the square root of the debris size, and it
costs $4 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 9 m object?
A) $8 million B) $12 million C) $16 million D) $20 million
Answer: B) $12 million
38. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 45 days. How many pieces can it remove
in 2.5 years?
A) 15 B) 18 C) 20 D) 22
Answer: C) 20
39. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 3 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 15 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 30 B) 35 C) 40 D) 45
Answer: D) 45
40. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 1 cm. If there are 30,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 100 for each order of magnitude
decrease in size, how many objects can this system potentially track?
A) 3,000,000 B) 30,000,000 C) 300,000,000 D) 3,000,000,000
Answer: C) 300,000,000
41. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in GEO is 0.5% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 20 years?
A) 80.5% B) 85.5% C) 90.5% D) 95.5%
Answer: C) 90.5%
42. A debris removal system can process 2 tons of material per year. If there are 9000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 20% of the debris?
A) 700 years B) 800 years C) 900 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 900 years
43. If a satellite generates 5 debris particles per year and there are 2000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 8 years?
A) 60,000 B) 70,000 C) 80,000 D) 90,000
Answer: C) 80,000
44. A space debris removal mission has a 75% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 4 out of 6 attempts?
A) 0.63 B) 0.73 C) 0.83 D) 0.93
Answer: C) 0.83
45. If the average velocity of debris in GEO is 3 km/s and a piece of debris is 5 cm in diameter, what is
its kinetic energy in kilojoules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 20 kJ B) 40 kJ C) 60 kJ D) 80 kJ
Answer: C) 60 kJ
46. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 3 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 2-3 mm is 5 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 2
m² satellite over 4 years?
A) 0.28 B) 0.38 C) 0.48 D) 0.58
Answer: C) 0.48
47. If a space debris cleanup mission has an 80% chance of success and costs $80 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $80 million B) $90 million C) $100 million D) $110 million
Answer: C) $100 million
2. A space debris removal mission aims to deorbit 5 large debris objects per year. If the current count
is 500 objects, how many years will it take to reduce the population by 25%?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: B) 25
3. If the average collision probability between two objects in LEO is 1 in 10,000 per year, what is the
probability of a collision occurring in a 5-year period?
A) 1 in 2,000 B) 1 in 5,000 C) 1 in 8,000 D) 1 in 10,000
Answer: A) 1 in 2,000
4. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 1 cm³ of material per pulse. If a piece of debris
has a volume of 125 cm³, how many pulses are needed to completely vaporize it?
A) 100 B) 125 C) 150 D) 175
Answer: B) 125
5. If the cost of launching a debris removal satellite is $50 million and it can remove 10 large debris
objects, what is the cost per object removed?
A) $5 million B) $10 million C) $15 million D) $20 million
Answer: A) $5 million
6. A space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1 cm in diameter. If the shield
area is 10 m² and the flux of particles larger than 1 cm is 0.1 particles/m²/year, how many years will it
take, on average, for the shield to be penetrated?
A) 1 year B) 10 years C) 100 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 100 years
7. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of failure per
year due to debris impact, how many satellites can be expected to fail in 5 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: A) 5
8. A debris removal system can change the orbit of objects at a rate of 10 km/day. How long will it
take to lower an object's orbit by 300 km?
A) 20 days B) 25 days C) 30 days D) 35 days
Answer: C) 30 days
9. If the cost of space debris mitigation measures adds 5% to a satellite's total cost, and a satellite
costs $100 million, how much extra is spent on debris mitigation?
A) $1 million B) $3 million C) $5 million D) $7 million
Answer: C) $5 million
10. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 5 cm. If there are 20,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 10 for each halving of size, how many
objects can this system potentially track?
A) 200,000 B) 400,000 C) 600,000 D) 800,000
Answer: D) 800,000
11. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 5 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 10 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
12. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 2 months. How many pieces can it
remove in 3 years?
A) 12 B) 18 C) 24 D) 30
Answer: B) 18
13. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in LEO is 1% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 10 years?
A) 90.4% B) 95.1% C) 97.5% D) 99.0%
Answer: A) 90.4%
14. A debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 50 large debris objects. If
each object has a 2% chance per year of causing a catastrophic collision costing $1 billion, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 1:1 B) 2:1 C) 3:1 D) 4:1
Answer: D) 4:1
15. If a satellite generates 10 debris particles per year and there are 1000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 5 years?
A) 25,000 B) 50,000 C) 75,000 D) 100,000
Answer: B) 50,000
16. A debris removal system can process 1 ton of material per month. If there are 8000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 25% of the debris?
A) 15 years B) 20 years C) 25 years D) 30 years
Answer: B) 20 years
17. If the average velocity of debris in LEO is 7.5 km/s and a piece of debris is 1 cm in diameter, what
is its kinetic energy in joules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 500 J B) 1000 J C) 1500 J D) 2000 J
Answer: B) 1000 J
18. A space debris removal mission has a 80% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 3 out of 5 attempts?
A) 0.73 B) 0.83 C) 0.93 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.93
19. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.5% chance of generating
debris per year, how many debris-generating events can be expected in 10 years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
20. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 2 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 1-2 mm is 10 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 5
m² satellite over 5 years?
A) 0.78 B) 0.88 C) 0.92 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.92
21. If the cost of a debris removal mission is inversely proportional to the size of the debris, and it
costs $10 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 5 m object?
A) $1 million B) $2 million C) $3 million D) $4 million
Answer: B) $2 million
22. A space-based laser can deflect debris at a rate of 1 cm/s. How long will it take to change the
velocity of a piece of debris by 100 m/s?
A) 2.5 hours B) 2.5 days C) 2.5 weeks D) 2.5 months
Answer: C) 2.5 weeks
23. If the number of debris objects increases by 5% annually, how many years will it take for the
population to double?
A) 10 years B) 12 years C) 14 years D) 16 years
Answer: C) 14 years
24. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 500 m/s per year. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 2 km/s away, how many years will it take?
A) 2 years B) 3 years C) 4 years D) 5 years
Answer: C) 4 years
25. If a space debris cleanup mission has a 70% chance of success and costs $50 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $35 million B) $50 million C) $65 million D) $71.4 million
Answer: D) $71.4 million
26. A satellite has a cross-sectional area of 10 m² and is in an orbit with a debris flux of 0.1
impacts/m²/year. What is the probability of no impacts over 5 years?
A) 0.37 B) 0.47 C) 0.57 D) 0.67
Answer: A) 0.37
27. If a debris removal system can process 100 kg of material per day, how long will it take to remove
10 tons of debris?
A) 50 days B) 100 days C) 150 days D) 200 days
Answer: B) 100 days
28. A space debris shield weighs 5 kg/m². If a satellite has a surface area of 20 m², how much extra
mass is added by the shield?
A) 50 kg B) 75 kg C) 100 kg D) 125 kg
Answer: C) 100 kg
29. If the probability of a collision between two specific satellites is 1 in 1,000,000 per day, what is
the probability of a collision occurring in 1 year?
A) 1 in 2,740 B) 1 in 3,650 C) 1 in 4,560 D) 1 in 5,470
Answer: A) 1 in 2,740
30. A debris removal system can change the velocity of objects by 10 m/s per operation. If an object
needs its velocity changed by 300 m/s to deorbit, how many operations are needed?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: C) 30
31. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of colliding with
debris per year, how many collisions can be expected in 10 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: B) 10
32. A space debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 40 large debris
objects. If each object has a 1% chance per year of causing a $500 million collision, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 0.5:1 B) 1:1 C) 1.5:1 D) 2:1
Answer: B) 1:1
33. If the number of debris objects in LEO is currently 20,000 and increases by 3% annually, how
many objects will there be after 20 years?
A) 32,000 B) 36,000 C) 40,000 D) 44,000
Answer: B) 36,000
34. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 200 m/s per month. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 3 km/s away, how many months will it take?
A) 10 months B) 12 months C) 15 months D) 18 months
Answer: C) 15 months
35. If a space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1.5 cm in diameter, and the
flux of particles larger than this is 0.05 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration
for a 4 m² satellite over 3 years?
A) 0.40 B) 0.45 C) 0.50 D) 0.55
Answer: B) 0.45
36. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 0.5 cm³ of material per second. How long will it
take to completely vaporize a debris object with a volume of 1000 cm³?
A) 25 minutes B) 30 minutes C) 33.3 minutes D) 36.6 minutes
Answer: C) 33.3 minutes
37. If the cost of a debris removal mission is proportional to the square root of the debris size, and it
costs $4 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 9 m object?
A) $8 million B) $12 million C) $16 million D) $20 million
Answer: B) $12 million
38. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 45 days. How many pieces can it remove
in 2.5 years?
A) 15 B) 18 C) 20 D) 22
Answer: C) 20
39. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 3 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 15 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 30 B) 35 C) 40 D) 45
Answer: D) 45
40. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 1 cm. If there are 30,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 100 for each order of magnitude
decrease in size, how many objects can this system potentially track?
A) 3,000,000 B) 30,000,000 C) 300,000,000 D) 3,000,000,000
Answer: C) 300,000,000
41. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in GEO is 0.5% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 20 years?
A) 80.5% B) 85.5% C) 90.5% D) 95.5%
Answer: C) 90.5%
42. A debris removal system can process 2 tons of material per year. If there are 9000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 20% of the debris?
A) 700 years B) 800 years C) 900 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 900 years
43. If a satellite generates 5 debris particles per year and there are 2000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 8 years?
A) 60,000 B) 70,000 C) 80,000 D) 90,000
Answer: C) 80,000
44. A space debris removal mission has a 75% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 4 out of 6 attempts?
A) 0.63 B) 0.73 C) 0.83 D) 0.93
Answer: C) 0.83
45. If the average velocity of debris in GEO is 3 km/s and a piece of debris is 5 cm in diameter, what is
its kinetic energy in kilojoules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 20 kJ B) 40 kJ C) 60 kJ D) 80 kJ
Answer: C) 60 kJ
46. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 3 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 2-3 mm is 5 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 2
m² satellite over 4 years?
A) 0.28 B) 0.38 C) 0.48 D) 0.58
Answer: C) 0.48
47. If a space debris cleanup mission has an 80% chance of success and costs $80 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $80 million B) $90 million C) $100 million D) $110 million
Answer: C) $100 million
2. A space debris removal mission aims to deorbit 5 large debris objects per year. If the current count
is 500 objects, how many years will it take to reduce the population by 25%?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: B) 25
3. If the average collision probability between two objects in LEO is 1 in 10,000 per year, what is the
probability of a collision occurring in a 5-year period?
A) 1 in 2,000 B) 1 in 5,000 C) 1 in 8,000 D) 1 in 10,000
Answer: A) 1 in 2,000
4. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 1 cm³ of material per pulse. If a piece of debris
has a volume of 125 cm³, how many pulses are needed to completely vaporize it?
A) 100 B) 125 C) 150 D) 175
Answer: B) 125
5. If the cost of launching a debris removal satellite is $50 million and it can remove 10 large debris
objects, what is the cost per object removed?
A) $5 million B) $10 million C) $15 million D) $20 million
Answer: A) $5 million
6. A space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1 cm in diameter. If the shield
area is 10 m² and the flux of particles larger than 1 cm is 0.1 particles/m²/year, how many years will it
take, on average, for the shield to be penetrated?
A) 1 year B) 10 years C) 100 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 100 years
7. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of failure per
year due to debris impact, how many satellites can be expected to fail in 5 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: A) 5
8. A debris removal system can change the orbit of objects at a rate of 10 km/day. How long will it
take to lower an object's orbit by 300 km?
A) 20 days B) 25 days C) 30 days D) 35 days
Answer: C) 30 days
9. If the cost of space debris mitigation measures adds 5% to a satellite's total cost, and a satellite
costs $100 million, how much extra is spent on debris mitigation?
A) $1 million B) $3 million C) $5 million D) $7 million
Answer: C) $5 million
10. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 5 cm. If there are 20,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 10 for each halving of size, how many
objects can this system potentially track?
A) 200,000 B) 400,000 C) 600,000 D) 800,000
Answer: D) 800,000
11. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 5 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 10 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
12. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 2 months. How many pieces can it
remove in 3 years?
A) 12 B) 18 C) 24 D) 30
Answer: B) 18
13. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in LEO is 1% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 10 years?
A) 90.4% B) 95.1% C) 97.5% D) 99.0%
Answer: A) 90.4%
14. A debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 50 large debris objects. If
each object has a 2% chance per year of causing a catastrophic collision costing $1 billion, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 1:1 B) 2:1 C) 3:1 D) 4:1
Answer: D) 4:1
15. If a satellite generates 10 debris particles per year and there are 1000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 5 years?
A) 25,000 B) 50,000 C) 75,000 D) 100,000
Answer: B) 50,000
16. A debris removal system can process 1 ton of material per month. If there are 8000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 25% of the debris?
A) 15 years B) 20 years C) 25 years D) 30 years
Answer: B) 20 years
17. If the average velocity of debris in LEO is 7.5 km/s and a piece of debris is 1 cm in diameter, what
is its kinetic energy in joules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 500 J B) 1000 J C) 1500 J D) 2000 J
Answer: B) 1000 J
18. A space debris removal mission has a 80% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 3 out of 5 attempts?
A) 0.73 B) 0.83 C) 0.93 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.93
19. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.5% chance of generating
debris per year, how many debris-generating events can be expected in 10 years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
20. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 2 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 1-2 mm is 10 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 5
m² satellite over 5 years?
A) 0.78 B) 0.88 C) 0.92 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.92
21. If the cost of a debris removal mission is inversely proportional to the size of the debris, and it
costs $10 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 5 m object?
A) $1 million B) $2 million C) $3 million D) $4 million
Answer: B) $2 million
22. A space-based laser can deflect debris at a rate of 1 cm/s. How long will it take to change the
velocity of a piece of debris by 100 m/s?
A) 2.5 hours B) 2.5 days C) 2.5 weeks D) 2.5 months
Answer: C) 2.5 weeks
23. If the number of debris objects increases by 5% annually, how many years will it take for the
population to double?
A) 10 years B) 12 years C) 14 years D) 16 years
Answer: C) 14 years
24. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 500 m/s per year. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 2 km/s away, how many years will it take?
A) 2 years B) 3 years C) 4 years D) 5 years
Answer: C) 4 years
25. If a space debris cleanup mission has a 70% chance of success and costs $50 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $35 million B) $50 million C) $65 million D) $71.4 million
Answer: D) $71.4 million
26. A satellite has a cross-sectional area of 10 m² and is in an orbit with a debris flux of 0.1
impacts/m²/year. What is the probability of no impacts over 5 years?
A) 0.37 B) 0.47 C) 0.57 D) 0.67
Answer: A) 0.37
27. If a debris removal system can process 100 kg of material per day, how long will it take to remove
10 tons of debris?
A) 50 days B) 100 days C) 150 days D) 200 days
Answer: B) 100 days
28. A space debris shield weighs 5 kg/m². If a satellite has a surface area of 20 m², how much extra
mass is added by the shield?
A) 50 kg B) 75 kg C) 100 kg D) 125 kg
Answer: C) 100 kg
29. If the probability of a collision between two specific satellites is 1 in 1,000,000 per day, what is
the probability of a collision occurring in 1 year?
A) 1 in 2,740 B) 1 in 3,650 C) 1 in 4,560 D) 1 in 5,470
Answer: A) 1 in 2,740
30. A debris removal system can change the velocity of objects by 10 m/s per operation. If an object
needs its velocity changed by 300 m/s to deorbit, how many operations are needed?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: C) 30
31. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of colliding with
debris per year, how many collisions can be expected in 10 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: B) 10
32. A space debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 40 large debris
objects. If each object has a 1% chance per year of causing a $500 million collision, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 0.5:1 B) 1:1 C) 1.5:1 D) 2:1
Answer: B) 1:1
33. If the number of debris objects in LEO is currently 20,000 and increases by 3% annually, how
many objects will there be after 20 years?
A) 32,000 B) 36,000 C) 40,000 D) 44,000
Answer: B) 36,000
34. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 200 m/s per month. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 3 km/s away, how many months will it take?
A) 10 months B) 12 months C) 15 months D) 18 months
Answer: C) 15 months
35. If a space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1.5 cm in diameter, and the
flux of particles larger than this is 0.05 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration
for a 4 m² satellite over 3 years?
A) 0.40 B) 0.45 C) 0.50 D) 0.55
Answer: B) 0.45
36. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 0.5 cm³ of material per second. How long will it
take to completely vaporize a debris object with a volume of 1000 cm³?
A) 25 minutes B) 30 minutes C) 33.3 minutes D) 36.6 minutes
Answer: C) 33.3 minutes
37. If the cost of a debris removal mission is proportional to the square root of the debris size, and it
costs $4 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 9 m object?
A) $8 million B) $12 million C) $16 million D) $20 million
Answer: B) $12 million
38. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 45 days. How many pieces can it remove
in 2.5 years?
A) 15 B) 18 C) 20 D) 22
Answer: C) 20
39. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 3 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 15 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 30 B) 35 C) 40 D) 45
Answer: D) 45
40. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 1 cm. If there are 30,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 100 for each order of magnitude
decrease in size, how many objects can this system potentially track?
A) 3,000,000 B) 30,000,000 C) 300,000,000 D) 3,000,000,000
Answer: C) 300,000,000
41. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in GEO is 0.5% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 20 years?
A) 80.5% B) 85.5% C) 90.5% D) 95.5%
Answer: C) 90.5%
42. A debris removal system can process 2 tons of material per year. If there are 9000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 20% of the debris?
A) 700 years B) 800 years C) 900 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 900 years
43. If a satellite generates 5 debris particles per year and there are 2000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 8 years?
A) 60,000 B) 70,000 C) 80,000 D) 90,000
Answer: C) 80,000
44. A space debris removal mission has a 75% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 4 out of 6 attempts?
A) 0.63 B) 0.73 C) 0.83 D) 0.93
Answer: C) 0.83
45. If the average velocity of debris in GEO is 3 km/s and a piece of debris is 5 cm in diameter, what is
its kinetic energy in kilojoules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 20 kJ B) 40 kJ C) 60 kJ D) 80 kJ
Answer: C) 60 kJ
46. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 3 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 2-3 mm is 5 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 2
m² satellite over 4 years?
A) 0.28 B) 0.38 C) 0.48 D) 0.58
Answer: C) 0.48
47. If a space debris cleanup mission has an 80% chance of success and costs $80 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $80 million B) $90 million C) $100 million D) $110 million
Answer: C) $100 million
2. A space debris removal mission aims to deorbit 5 large debris objects per year. If the current count
is 500 objects, how many years will it take to reduce the population by 25%?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: B) 25
3. If the average collision probability between two objects in LEO is 1 in 10,000 per year, what is the
probability of a collision occurring in a 5-year period?
A) 1 in 2,000 B) 1 in 5,000 C) 1 in 8,000 D) 1 in 10,000
Answer: A) 1 in 2,000
4. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 1 cm³ of material per pulse. If a piece of debris
has a volume of 125 cm³, how many pulses are needed to completely vaporize it?
A) 100 B) 125 C) 150 D) 175
Answer: B) 125
5. If the cost of launching a debris removal satellite is $50 million and it can remove 10 large debris
objects, what is the cost per object removed?
A) $5 million B) $10 million C) $15 million D) $20 million
Answer: A) $5 million
6. A space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1 cm in diameter. If the shield
area is 10 m² and the flux of particles larger than 1 cm is 0.1 particles/m²/year, how many years will it
take, on average, for the shield to be penetrated?
A) 1 year B) 10 years C) 100 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 100 years
7. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of failure per
year due to debris impact, how many satellites can be expected to fail in 5 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: A) 5
8. A debris removal system can change the orbit of objects at a rate of 10 km/day. How long will it
take to lower an object's orbit by 300 km?
A) 20 days B) 25 days C) 30 days D) 35 days
Answer: C) 30 days
9. If the cost of space debris mitigation measures adds 5% to a satellite's total cost, and a satellite
costs $100 million, how much extra is spent on debris mitigation?
A) $1 million B) $3 million C) $5 million D) $7 million
Answer: C) $5 million
10. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 5 cm. If there are 20,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 10 for each halving of size, how many
objects can this system potentially track?
A) 200,000 B) 400,000 C) 600,000 D) 800,000
Answer: D) 800,000
11. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 5 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 10 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
12. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 2 months. How many pieces can it
remove in 3 years?
A) 12 B) 18 C) 24 D) 30
Answer: B) 18
13. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in LEO is 1% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 10 years?
A) 90.4% B) 95.1% C) 97.5% D) 99.0%
Answer: A) 90.4%
14. A debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 50 large debris objects. If
each object has a 2% chance per year of causing a catastrophic collision costing $1 billion, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 1:1 B) 2:1 C) 3:1 D) 4:1
Answer: D) 4:1
15. If a satellite generates 10 debris particles per year and there are 1000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 5 years?
A) 25,000 B) 50,000 C) 75,000 D) 100,000
Answer: B) 50,000
16. A debris removal system can process 1 ton of material per month. If there are 8000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 25% of the debris?
A) 15 years B) 20 years C) 25 years D) 30 years
Answer: B) 20 years
17. If the average velocity of debris in LEO is 7.5 km/s and a piece of debris is 1 cm in diameter, what
is its kinetic energy in joules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 500 J B) 1000 J C) 1500 J D) 2000 J
Answer: B) 1000 J
18. A space debris removal mission has a 80% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 3 out of 5 attempts?
A) 0.73 B) 0.83 C) 0.93 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.93
19. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.5% chance of generating
debris per year, how many debris-generating events can be expected in 10 years?
A) 25 B) 50 C) 75 D) 100
Answer: B) 50
20. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 2 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 1-2 mm is 10 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 5
m² satellite over 5 years?
A) 0.78 B) 0.88 C) 0.92 D) 0.97
Answer: C) 0.92
21. If the cost of a debris removal mission is inversely proportional to the size of the debris, and it
costs $10 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 5 m object?
A) $1 million B) $2 million C) $3 million D) $4 million
Answer: B) $2 million
22. A space-based laser can deflect debris at a rate of 1 cm/s. How long will it take to change the
velocity of a piece of debris by 100 m/s?
A) 2.5 hours B) 2.5 days C) 2.5 weeks D) 2.5 months
Answer: C) 2.5 weeks
23. If the number of debris objects increases by 5% annually, how many years will it take for the
population to double?
A) 10 years B) 12 years C) 14 years D) 16 years
Answer: C) 14 years
24. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 500 m/s per year. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 2 km/s away, how many years will it take?
A) 2 years B) 3 years C) 4 years D) 5 years
Answer: C) 4 years
25. If a space debris cleanup mission has a 70% chance of success and costs $50 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $35 million B) $50 million C) $65 million D) $71.4 million
Answer: D) $71.4 million
26. A satellite has a cross-sectional area of 10 m² and is in an orbit with a debris flux of 0.1
impacts/m²/year. What is the probability of no impacts over 5 years?
A) 0.37 B) 0.47 C) 0.57 D) 0.67
Answer: A) 0.37
27. If a debris removal system can process 100 kg of material per day, how long will it take to remove
10 tons of debris?
A) 50 days B) 100 days C) 150 days D) 200 days
Answer: B) 100 days
28. A space debris shield weighs 5 kg/m². If a satellite has a surface area of 20 m², how much extra
mass is added by the shield?
A) 50 kg B) 75 kg C) 100 kg D) 125 kg
Answer: C) 100 kg
29. If the probability of a collision between two specific satellites is 1 in 1,000,000 per day, what is
the probability of a collision occurring in 1 year?
A) 1 in 2,740 B) 1 in 3,650 C) 1 in 4,560 D) 1 in 5,470
Answer: A) 1 in 2,740
30. A debris removal system can change the velocity of objects by 10 m/s per operation. If an object
needs its velocity changed by 300 m/s to deorbit, how many operations are needed?
A) 20 B) 25 C) 30 D) 35
Answer: C) 30
31. If a satellite constellation has 1000 satellites and each satellite has a 0.1% chance of colliding with
debris per year, how many collisions can be expected in 10 years?
A) 5 B) 10 C) 15 D) 20
Answer: B) 10
32. A space debris removal mission costs $100 million and is expected to remove 40 large debris
objects. If each object has a 1% chance per year of causing a $500 million collision, what is the
expected return on investment after 5 years?
A) 0.5:1 B) 1:1 C) 1.5:1 D) 2:1
Answer: B) 1:1
33. If the number of debris objects in LEO is currently 20,000 and increases by 3% annually, how
many objects will there be after 20 years?
A) 32,000 B) 36,000 C) 40,000 D) 44,000
Answer: B) 36,000
34. A debris removal satellite can change its orbit by 200 m/s per month. If it needs to reach debris in
an orbit 3 km/s away, how many months will it take?
A) 10 months B) 12 months C) 15 months D) 18 months
Answer: C) 15 months
35. If a space debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 1.5 cm in diameter, and the
flux of particles larger than this is 0.05 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration
for a 4 m² satellite over 3 years?
A) 0.40 B) 0.45 C) 0.50 D) 0.55
Answer: B) 0.45
36. A laser-based debris removal system can vaporize 0.5 cm³ of material per second. How long will it
take to completely vaporize a debris object with a volume of 1000 cm³?
A) 25 minutes B) 30 minutes C) 33.3 minutes D) 36.6 minutes
Answer: C) 33.3 minutes
37. If the cost of a debris removal mission is proportional to the square root of the debris size, and it
costs $4 million to remove a 1 m object, how much would it cost to remove a 9 m object?
A) $8 million B) $12 million C) $16 million D) $20 million
Answer: B) $12 million
38. A space tug can deorbit one large piece of debris every 45 days. How many pieces can it remove
in 2.5 years?
A) 15 B) 18 C) 20 D) 22
Answer: C) 20
39. If a satellite has a cross-sectional area of 3 m² and is expected to be in orbit for 15 years, what is
the total debris exposure in m²-years?
A) 30 B) 35 C) 40 D) 45
Answer: D) 45
40. A debris tracking system can detect objects as small as 1 cm. If there are 30,000 objects larger
than 10 cm and the number of objects increases by a factor of 100 for each order of magnitude
decrease in size, how many objects can this system potentially track?
A) 3,000,000 B) 30,000,000 C) 300,000,000 D) 3,000,000,000
Answer: C) 300,000,000
41. If the probability of a catastrophic collision in GEO is 0.5% per year, what is the probability of
avoiding a collision for 20 years?
A) 80.5% B) 85.5% C) 90.5% D) 95.5%
Answer: C) 90.5%
42. A debris removal system can process 2 tons of material per year. If there are 9000 tons of debris
in orbit, how many years will it take to remove 20% of the debris?
A) 700 years B) 800 years C) 900 years D) 1000 years
Answer: C) 900 years
43. If a satellite generates 5 debris particles per year and there are 2000 active satellites, how many
new debris particles are generated in 8 years?
A) 60,000 B) 70,000 C) 80,000 D) 90,000
Answer: C) 80,000
44. A space debris removal mission has a 75% success rate for each attempt. What is the probability
of successfully removing debris in at least 4 out of 6 attempts?
A) 0.63 B) 0.73 C) 0.83 D) 0.93
Answer: C) 0.83
45. If the average velocity of debris in GEO is 3 km/s and a piece of debris is 5 cm in diameter, what is
its kinetic energy in kilojoules? (Assume debris density of 2.7 g/cm³)
A) 20 kJ B) 40 kJ C) 60 kJ D) 80 kJ
Answer: C) 60 kJ
46. A debris shield can withstand impacts from particles up to 3 mm in diameter. If the flux of
particles between 2-3 mm is 5 particles/m²/year, what is the probability of shield penetration for a 2
m² satellite over 4 years?
A) 0.28 B) 0.38 C) 0.48 D) 0.58
Answer: C) 0.48
47. If a space debris cleanup mission has an 80% chance of success and costs $80 million, what is the
expected cost per successful mission?
A) $80 million B) $90 million C) $100 million D) $110 million
Answer: C) $100 million
48. A space
