Enhanced Shield Against Meteoroids and Orbital Debris

NASA scientists, who are very concerned with the increasing hazard of impacts of orbital debris impact on spacecraft, have designed the "stuffed Whipple" shield — a lightweight, relatively inexpensive alternative to simple aluminum meteoroid/orbital-debris (M/OD) shield. The stuffed Whipple shield features an easily adaptable design that increases protection against hypervelocity impacts (HVIs), without significantly affecting previously formulated designs of spacecraft. The stuffed Whipple shield is critical to the continued human exploration of space, especially to the Space Station, inasmuch as the Station will be operating in low orbit around the Earth and will need shielding against HVIs in order to survive intact and for an appreciable amount of time and continue to safely support human habitation. Scientists project that the number of HVIs from detritus of artificial objects will increase from 2 to 5 percent per year— an increase that could produce devastating results.