Re:The Elusive Peril of Space Junk
by dr_orpheus on Thursday October 08, 2020 @10:31AM
(#24719374)
True, but generally most the "natural" debris are much smaller objects (micro-meteoroids). These are on the order of micrometers in size. Smaller micro-meteoroids are much more prevalent [0]. These do still cause damage to spacecraft but it is on a much smaller scale. The effects are typically things like cracked solar arrays, tears in multi-layer thermal insulation. This is still a a concern and when things like meteor showers occur some spacecraft will try and optimize the orientation of their solar arrays so that they are not normal to the ram direction (i.e. the solar arrays are facing in the direction of travel which gives a greater chance of hitting something at high velocity)
Larger debris does tend to come from satellites. And things such as satellite collisions cause a noticeable effect on the number of objects (of a size that we can track) [1].
Larger debris does tend to come from satellites. And things such as satellite collisions cause a noticeable effect on the number of objects (of a size that we can track) [1].
[0] https://www.nap.edu/openbook/0309051258/xhtml/images/img0001...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_debris#/media/File:Space...