Space structures design criteria for meteoroid-damage tolerance

Design criteria for the wall thickness of space structures to protect them from the expected collision impact of meteoroids during their mission periods in space are presented. The maximum expected damage by a meteoroid on a unit surface area is stochastically evaluated by applying an analytical method based on a Poisson process analysis. First, the cumulative distribution function (CDF) and mean arrival rate of meteoroids are determined from the relation between the flux number and mass of meteoroids given by NASA. Next, the probability of the maximum mass arriving at a unit surface area during a certain period of time is calculated using the Poisson process and a function of the CDF and mean arrival rate of meteoroids. To obtain the CDF for the penetration depth from a meteoroid impact, the cumulative distribution function of mass has to be replaced by that of the penetration depth. The expected penetration depth for a space structure is provided as a function of the total surface area of the structure