Tiny pieces of cosmic dust, not artificial debris, could pose the biggest danger to spacecraft
According to international researchers who analysed material from the Hubble Space Telescope.
The team found that natural cosmic dust grains – or micrometeoroids – up to one-third of a millimetre in diameter, are responsible for 90% of the largest impacts over the last 15 years, compared to relatively few impacts by artificial debris.
These insights could help engineers predict dangers and design spacecraft able to withstand micrometeroid impacts as we venture beyond Earth and lunar orbit.