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Space station impact shielding.
Does anyone know about what kind of impact the space station can survive? Surely this has been analyzed. I would imagine that it can withstand a fleck of paint hitting at 5 km/s but not a 1 kg piece of metal hitting at the same speed. What is the probability of the space station being severely damaged by a collision of space debris or meteorite? Alain Fournier |
#2
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Space station impact shielding.
"Alain Fournier" wrote in message
... Does anyone know about what kind of impact the space station can survive? Surely this has been analyzed. I would imagine that it can withstand a fleck of paint hitting at 5 km/s but not a 1 kg piece of metal hitting at the same speed. What is the probability of the space station being severely damaged by a collision of space debris or meteorite? I don't know the full answer but, but I do know the Russian segment's protection is in theory not as good as the American segment. Also look up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipple_shield -- Greg Moore Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC. |
#3
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Space station impact shielding.
"Greg D. Moore (Strider)" wrote in
message ... "Alain Fournier" wrote in message ... Does anyone know about what kind of impact the space station can survive? Surely this has been analyzed. I would imagine that it can withstand a fleck of paint hitting at 5 km/s but not a 1 kg piece of metal hitting at the same speed. What is the probability of the space station being severely damaged by a collision of space debris or meteorite? I don't know the full answer but, but I do know the Russian segment's protection is in theory not as good as the American segment. Also look up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipple_shield -- Greg Moore Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC. ================================================== ====== This isn't a question that has an answer, because so many different possible impacts can happen to so many different parts of the ISS. Imagine the speck of paint I see mentioned; vs a several-inches piece of bell nozzle or even (since the recent major collision) a piece of satellite mainframe. Imagine it nicks a solar cells wing vs it impacts a wings frame central joint, etc etc. I think that in a space orbital environment with no quick access to atmosphere, the topic calls for thinking about a range of more-likely extremes, and when you get down to basics, I believe the question isn't all about impacts anyhow. It is rather, how to get that orbiting junk out of there, and not add to it. Looking ahead, we can see off-Terra settlements and traffic out and return to Terra. How do you think business people will feel about their people and their cargos running a gamble/gauntlet for each passage thru near-Terra space? So I believe we are looking at the problem of how to clear practically all of that stuff out of near-Terra space. And while we're naturally concerned about the ISS and the people aboard it, the ISS concern disappears when we face the orbiting junk problem and how to fix it. Titeotwawki -- mha [sci.space.tech 2009 Mar 26] |
#4
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Space station impact shielding.
Alain Fournier wrote:
Does anyone know about what kind of impact the space station can survive? Surely this has been analyzed. I would imagine that it can withstand a fleck of paint hitting at 5 km/s but not a 1 kg piece of metal hitting at the same speed. Approximately 1 cm is the upper limit. |
#5
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Space station impact shielding.
"Martha Adams" wrote:
: :It is rather, how to get that orbiting junk out of there, and not add to :it. Looking ahead, we can see off-Terra settlements and traffic out and :return to Terra. How do you think business people will feel about their eople and their cargos running a gamble/gauntlet for each passage thru :near-Terra space? So I believe we are looking at the problem of how to :clear practically all of that stuff out of near-Terra space. And while :we're naturally concerned about the ISS and the people aboard it, the :ISS concern disappears when we face the orbiting junk problem and how to :fix it. : In reality it will clean itself up over time. The real issue, of course, is that every time you send something up you are creating some additional small amount of debris, so it never actually cleans up. Since we can't eliminate debris from launches and vehicles (we can only minimize it), trying to go up and clean up debris is rather like trying to fix a hole in a garment with a pair of scissors. The answer, of course, is to avoid the big stuff and 'armor' against the small stuff. -- "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." --George Bernard Shaw |
#6
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Space station impact shielding.
"Jorge R. Frank" wrote:
:Alain Fournier wrote: : : Does anyone know about what kind of impact the space station can : survive? Surely this has been analyzed. I would imagine that it can : withstand a fleck of paint hitting at 5 km/s but not a 1 kg piece of : metal hitting at the same speed. : :Approximately 1 cm is the upper limit. : But 1 cm moving at what relative speed with what mass? Presumably a 1 cm piece of polystyrene in a closely aligned orbit is a much smaller problem than a 1 cm piece of tungsten in a radically different (but intersecting) orbit. As has also been noted, it makes a lot of difference just what gets hit... Whipple has gotten his name on the shielding principle, but it's really just the same sort of scheme that has been used on armored vehicles for decades. It leaves me wondering whether application of other techniques from armored vehicles could be adapted somehow. Blazer armor for space vehicles, anyone? |
#7
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Space station impact shielding.
Fred J. McCall wrote:
"Jorge R. Frank" wrote: :Alain Fournier wrote: : : Does anyone know about what kind of impact the space station can : survive? Surely this has been analyzed. I would imagine that it can : withstand a fleck of paint hitting at 5 km/s but not a 1 kg piece of : metal hitting at the same speed. : :Approximately 1 cm is the upper limit. : But 1 cm moving at what relative speed with what mass? 1 cm aluminum sphere hitting at a right angle (~11 km/s), IIRC. Whipple has gotten his name on the shielding principle, but it's really just the same sort of scheme that has been used on armored vehicles for decades. It leaves me wondering whether application of other techniques from armored vehicles could be adapted somehow. Blazer armor for space vehicles, anyone? Possibly, but armored vehicle applications are a lot less weight-sensitive... |
#8
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Space station impact shielding.
Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:
"Alain Fournier" wrote in message ... Does anyone know about what kind of impact the space station can survive? Surely this has been analyzed. I would imagine that it can withstand a fleck of paint hitting at 5 km/s but not a 1 kg piece of metal hitting at the same speed. What is the probability of the space station being severely damaged by a collision of space debris or meteorite? I don't know the full answer but, but I do know the Russian segment's protection is in theory not as good as the American segment. Do you have a cite for that? I guest you need to know something about the level of protection on both segments to state that one is better than the other. There has been interesting responses in this thread but no one really answered my question. Does anyone know if at least that was considered in the specifications of the modules. When they were built, did NASA ask that the modules have a minimum level of impact survivability? Alain Fournier |
#9
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Space station impact shielding.
Alain Fournier wrote:
Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote: "Alain Fournier" wrote in message ... Does anyone know about what kind of impact the space station can survive? Surely this has been analyzed. I would imagine that it can withstand a fleck of paint hitting at 5 km/s but not a 1 kg piece of metal hitting at the same speed. What is the probability of the space station being severely damaged by a collision of space debris or meteorite? I don't know the full answer but, but I do know the Russian segment's protection is in theory not as good as the American segment. Do you have a cite for that? I guest you need to know something about the level of protection on both segments to state that one is better than the other. Google any of the articles over the past two years about ISS crews performing EVAs to install improved MMOD shields on the Russian modules. There has been interesting responses in this thread but no one really answered my question. Does anyone know if at least that was considered in the specifications of the modules. When they were built, did NASA ask that the modules have a minimum level of impact survivability? Yes, I did. |
#10
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Space station impact shielding.
"OM" wrote in message
... On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:52:01 EDT, "Jorge R. Frank" wrote: When they were built, did NASA ask that the modules have a minimum level of impact survivability? Yes, I did. ....Have you had your shielding upgraded, Jorge? :-) :-) OM -- ]=====================================[ ] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [ ] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [ ] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [ ]=====================================[ ================================================== Where is our moderator? This appears to be a personal attack by "OM" upon the writer of a previous message. Titeotwawki -- mha [sci.space.tech 2009 Mar 28] |
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