Meteoroid Effects on Space Exploration

Overview & Synopsis

Although the meteoroid hazard has not been adequately evaluated for proper design of space- craft for missions through cislunar and inter- planetary space, the extent of meteoroid inter- actions on space exploration may be estimated. The available information about meteoroids and cosmic dust obtained from ground-based obser- vations and satellite measurements is reviewed. This data is presently limited to meteoroids and cosmic dust with heliocentric orbits intersecting the plane of the ecliptic at one astronomical unit and interacting with the earth-moon system. From such information the expectation of the number of impacts with interplanetary matter as a function of exposed spacecraft surface area, exposure time, and meteoroid mass is presented. An estimate of the hazard has been made using appropriate hypervelocity cratering criteria. Some results of other authors are compared with the expectation of meteoroid interaction effects herein presented. The probability of damage to spacecraft is apparently considerably different and a bit less than some earlier estimates.