MULTILAYERED HYPERVELOCITY IMPACT SHIELD FOR SPACECRAFT

摘要

A hypervelocity impact shield assembly (10) for spacecraft. The assembly includes at least one sacrificial layer of hypervelocity impactor disrupting material. A spacing element (18) including space-rated open cell foam material, is positioned between said layer and a spacecraft surface (12). A cover element (20) is arranged to maintain the integrity of the shield assembly. In the event of an impact, the sacrificial layer (36) is perforated while disrupting the impactor, thus dispersing it in the form of an expanding debris cloud, spreading the impact energy over a volume formed by the spacing element between the sacrificial layer and the spacecraft surface. The open-cell foam provides an extremely lightweight and low-cost means of supporting the sacrificial layer. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is in the form of a multi-shock assembly (26) including a plurality of such sacrificial layers and spacing elements (38) between them. Thus, a plurality of multi-shock subassemblies are provided which include alternating layers of sacrificial layers and spacing elements.