American scientists from the Astrodynamics and Space Robotics Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced the release of the open beta version of the MOCAT tool, designed to estimate the capacity of near-Earth space. The model calculates the amount of space debris and other objects orbiting Earth. The research was published in the official gazette Web site MYTH.
According to the developers, MOCAT is able to distinguish object categories and generalize their parameters. The program consists of two modules. The first (MOCAT-MC) evaluates the evolution of the space environment by simulating individual orbits and offers high-accuracy calculations; The second (MOCAT-SSEM) produces a less detailed picture but can perform calculations in a few seconds on personal computers.
MIT noted that a publicly available tool for estimating the capacity of orbital space could be used to comprehensively manage the near-Earth environment and study the causes of new space debris. The tool is available on GitHub, a collaborative software creation and hosting platform.
Physicists before I learnedIs it possible to protect the Earth from a collision with an asteroid using a nuclear attack?