Meteoroid protection for the Comet Halley probe

Abstract

The high closing speed of 57km/s between the spacecraft and Halley poses special problems in the design of the required meteoroid protection. A double wall structure with a total thickness equal to 0.1 to 1 times the diameter of the largest meteoroid encountered is sufficient to stop that meteoroid. However, the unusually high number of meteoroid impacts on the Halley probe will cause significant erosion of the outer wall so that failure of the second wall is more likely to occur from a small meteoroid passing through a previously created hole in the outer wall and then penetrating the second wall. Calculations of the shielding required based on this failure mode, show that a double wall structure must actually have a total thickness 1.2 to 7.3 times the diameter of the largest meteoroid encountered, depending on the size distribution of the meteoroids.