Working group written presentation: Meteoroid/orbital debris effects on materials

Low earth orbit (LEO) is the most significant region relative to orbital debris, since the flux of orbital debris peaks in the region from 800 to 1000 kilometers, and the relative velocities of objects in LEO are about 10 kilometers per second. The flux and relative velocities of objects in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) are small, so that debris is not considered to be a problem in GEO. The meteoroid environment is independent of orbit or altitude, so that its effects are the same in LEO and GEO. The effects of orbital debris and meteoroid impacts can be divided into two broad regions: (1) Erosion and pitting; Small particles (less than 100 microns) are very numerous. Impacts from these generally do not lead to penetration of surfaces, but cause pitting and erosion. The Solar Max surfaces were peppered with thousands of tiny impact pits. (2) Catastrophic impacts; Large debris particles are few in number relative to small debris, so that the probability of an impact is low. However, the effects of an impact of a large particle at 10 kilometers per second are devastating. These effects are examined.