ISS impacts by space debris

Question

Is there something that tracks the locations of space debris impacts, and how big the debris or damage is?

Answer 1

To the extent that there is something that tracks the locations of impacts, that "something" would be me, along with a small handful of other people spread across a few teams: MMOD, EVA, Imagery analysis, and a few dedicated hardware and system owners.

Generally speaking, our only way of tracking debris strikes that are too small to cause significant anomalies or system failures (i.e., nearly all of the strikes) is downlinked imagery. A technique that was common during shuttle but is all-but-nonexistent these days is direct returned surface inspection -- in my five years in the field, I've examined one piece of returned hardware.

For the most part, we only track the location of strikes for which there exists a decent potential of affecting station operations or if the location of the strikes will help us fingerprint individual hardware elements that are otherwise virtually indistinguishable in imagery. Strikes into "dumb structure" are usually ignored unless they are very large.

I know this isn't a super adequate answer right now, but I'd be willing to expand on any followup questions you may add in comments.

Answer 2

According to the Motherboard article The ISS Is Getting a New Camera to Check Itself for Space Debris Damage; The $1.7-million vision system will launch in 2020, and is 'roughly the size of a microwave oven.' this may be more carefully addressed in the future.

On Thursday, the Government of Canada and the Canadian Space Agency announced a new CAD$1.7 million "vision system" that will be able to regularly scan the ISS for damage at a degree not previously possible, and is slated to launch in 2020.

"The vision system will use a combination of three sensors—a 3D [LIDAR] laser, a high-definition camera, and an infrared camera—to support the inspection and maintenance of the ageing infrastructure of the International Space Station," a release accompanying the announcement reads.

It is being developed by a Canadian company, Neptec Design Group Ltd., which previously worked with NASA on the development of a prototype lunar rover, Artemis Jr.

The article continues:

The system will be attached to Dextre, another Canadian Space Agency robot, that performs maintenance and repairs on the exterior of the space station. At present, the space station is examined using cameras already attached to Canadarm2—the station's robotic arm—and Dextre, from photos taken by crew inside the ISS, as well as photos taken during spacewalks.

While it is unclear how, exactly, the vision system will function in practice, the addition of LIDAR and Infrared sensors could allow for more accurate 3D scans that could identify physical changes to the station's surface—similar to how a self-driving car uses such sensors to examine the world around it.

There's a bit of good news, too, for fans of NASA's ever-growing trove of freely accessible photography: "The system's imagery will be available to the public," the Canadian Space Agency said, "who will see the ISS as they have never seen it before."

below: "A render of the Canadian Space Agency's newly announced vision system, mounted on the agency's maintenance robot Dextre." Image: Canadian Space Agency