Using Composite Materials to Protect Spacecraft Against Orbital Debris Impact Damage

摘要

All earth-orbiting spacecraft are susceptible to impacts by meteoroids and pieces of orbital debris. These impacts occur at extremely high speeds and can damage flight-critical systems, which can in turn lead to catastrophic failure of the spacecraft. With the advent of many new high-strength composite materials and their proliferation in aircraft applications, it has become necessary to evaluate their potential for use in long-duration space and aerospace structural systems. This paper represents the results of several experimental investigations in which several different composite materials were tested for their ability to prevent the perforation of the pressure walls in multi-wall systems subjected to hypervelocity projectile impact.