COSMIC RADIATION AND

MICROMETEOROID
PROTECTION
Kathleen L. Apolinario, Sharifa M. Benig, Krizelle May C. Coralde
BSGE-5
Cosmic Radiation

• high-energy radiation, mainly originating outside the Solar System

• Composed primarily of high-energy protons and atomic nuclei

• The origin of galactic cosmic rays is not entirely understood

• Types: Solar energetic particles

Galactic cosmic rays

• One of the leading causes of satellite anomalies

• Some particle radiation is so energetic that it can penetrate to the interior

of a satellite and interact with its electronic circuitry

• Back in 1962, Telstar 1 was an early high-profile casualty, its transistors

suffering degradation by passage through the inner Van Allen radiation belt

• Radiation from space causes some materials to become brittle, so parts of

satellites break more easily after long exposure to the electromagnetic
radiation of space.
Micrometeoroids

• A micrometeoroid is a tiny meteoroid; a small particle of rock in

space, usually weighing less than a gram

• Millions of man-made debris and naturally occurring

micrometeoroids orbit in and around Earth's space environment at
hypervelocity speeds averaging 10 km/s (22,000 mph)
• This "space junk" collides with spacecraft and satellites. Collision with
these particles can cause serious damage or catastrophic failure to
spacecraft or satellites and is a life threatening risk to astronauts
conducting extra-vehicular activities in space.
Micrometeoroid Protection

• Micrometeoroid protection minimizes the risk of impacts that

can damage spacecraft systems and jeopardize flightworthiness.
Sources of meteoroids include planetary ejecta and particles of
asteroidal and cometary origin. Impacts on spacecraft can cause
partial penetration, perforation, spalling, local deformation, or
secondary fractures, any of which can result in failure of a critical
system.
Typical failure modes include:

• Catastrophic rupture

• Leakage

• Deflagration

• Reduced structural strength

• Various methods of micrometeoroid protection are used to protect
spacecraft components from micrometeoroid impacts. They range
from structural positioning to shield sensitive hardware, to placement
of protective blankets on the spacecraft exterior.

• Interplanetary probes typically use tough blankets of Kevlar or other

strong materials to absorb the energy of high-velocity dust particles.
Whipple Shield
• Also known as a meteor deflection screen

• A thin shield that protects a spacecraft from damage due to collision with
hypervelocity micrometeoroids and other fast-moving minor debris

• Over the years, many different types of Whipple shield have been
designed. The International Space Station alone uses 200 different types of
Whipple shield to protect it from impacts.

• It is named after Fred Whipple who first suggested it in 1946 and referred
to it as a "meteor bumper"
• The Whipple shield consists of a thin, aluminum “sacrificial” wall
mounted at a distance from a rear wall.

• The function of the first sheet or “BUMPER” is to break up the

projectile into a cloud of material containing both projectile and
BUMPER debris. This cloud expands while moving across the standoff,
resulting in the impactor momentum being distributed over a wide
area of the rear wall.

• The back sheet must be thick enough to withstand the blast loading
from the debris cloud and any solid fragments that remain.
Stuffed Whipple shield
• A variation of the simple Whipple shield in which layers of Nextel (a
woven ceramic fabric) and Kevlar are inserted between the bumper
and the rear wall. These additional layers further shock and pulverize
the debris cloud so that that any fragments reaching the rear wall are
harmless.

Multi-shock shield
• A popular shielding design that consists of staggering layers of Nextel
at specified standoff distances. The multiple layers of Nextel
repeatedly shock the projectile and debris cloud until the remaining
fragments have too little energy to breach the rear wall.
Satellites have to endure the effects of radiation and of continuous,
damaging micrometeoroid hits, especially during long-term missions. Earth’s
atmosphere blocks most cosmic radiation from affecting microprocessors in
computers on the ground. A satellite, however, needs shielding for its
computers. Radiation from space also causes some materials to become
brittle, so parts of satellites break more easily after long exposure to the
electromagnetic radiation of space. Solar panels gradually produce less and
less power because of damage from radiation effects and from the impact of
micrometeoroids.