by Chris Peterson » Wed Jan 26, 2011 10:39 pm
dougettinger wrote:However, due to the gravitational field close to Earth, meteors and sizable dust particles may be encountered with a much higher probability than in interplanetary space by man-made satellites and space startions. I believe that some collisions with natural space debris have been recorded ?
Earth's gravitational field has very little to do with this. The meteoroid environment around Earth isn't significantly different that it is out between the planets.
There are two things to consider here. First is the size of particles in interplanetary space. They follow a power law, meaning that as the size gets smaller the number of particles gets rapidly larger. There are only a few objects of planet size in the Solar System, but there are countless trillions of particles the size of sand grains. So even in the Asteroid belt, you will encounter far more sand-sized grains than you will asteroids.
Second, you need to consider the source of debris that hits satellites in Earth orbit. It isn't material from the natural background, but material associated with passing through cometary debris trails- the same thing that produces meteor showers. These are regions where the debris is substantially above the background level, in rings orbiting the Sun. They exist throughout the Solar System, in the orbit of every comet that gets close enough to the Sun to shed material.
[quote="dougettinger"]However, due to the gravitational field close to Earth, meteors and sizable dust particles may be encountered with a much higher probability than in interplanetary space by man-made satellites and space startions. I believe that some collisions with natural space debris have been recorded ?[/quote]
Earth's gravitational field has very little to do with this. The meteoroid environment around Earth isn't significantly different that it is out between the planets.
There are two things to consider here. First is the size of particles in interplanetary space. They follow a power law, meaning that as the size gets smaller the number of particles gets rapidly larger. There are only a few objects of planet size in the Solar System, but there are countless trillions of particles the size of sand grains. So even in the Asteroid belt, you will encounter far more sand-sized grains than you will asteroids.
Second, you need to consider the source of debris that hits satellites in Earth orbit. It isn't material from the natural background, but material associated with passing through cometary debris trails- the same thing that produces meteor showers. These are regions where the debris is substantially above the background level, in rings orbiting the Sun. They exist throughout the Solar System, in the orbit of every comet that gets close enough to the Sun to shed material.