Simulating Meteoroid Impacts using High-Power Lasers: A New Method to Prepare Spacecraft for the Harsh Environment of Space

摘要

Meteoroids are one of the most damaging elements in space: at 20 km/s even one the size of a grain of salt can wreak the same damage as a cannonball fired at 1000 km/h. The solar wings of the Hubble Space Telescope returned from space are peppered with holes and craters from meteoroids and space debris. Satellites must be protected from such impacts through careful design and testing. In laboratory testing, firing a high-power laser at a satellite hull efficiently simulates all aspects of the impact: the catering, the shock travelling through the material, and the impact cloud that can knock out electronics. It can also be used to calibrate detectors that characterise the meteoroid and debris environment, allowing sensitive instruments to be protected simply by carefully choosing a satellite's orientation.