Thin Sheet Impact

Results are presented from a theoretical and experimental program to investigate the shielding necessary to protect a spacecraft from meteoroid impact damage. A previous study shows that heating effects from impact can melt or vaporize debris that passes through a thin shield. The momentum loading of this debris was measured and the results applied to calculating the response of the second sheet, using numerical shell analysis techniques. Shielding calculations and experiments predict that a first sheet of 0.20-mm aluminum and a second sheet of 1.40-mm 7075-T6 aluminum, 5.08 cm apart, will have a probability of 0.999 of no damage on an Apollo mission.