Micrometeoroid Strike on Cupola
Marc’s note: According to a tweet by NASA Spaceflight there was a micrometeoroid strike on the Cupola. According to the tweet it is minor impact and “doesn’t look bad.” The shutter was closed and impact is being evaluated. Details to follow when available.
– Live International Space Station video feed
Update: Cupola hit by minor MMOD strike, shutter closed for evaluations, NASA Spaceflight
“Window 2 on the Cupola module has been hit by a minor MicroMeteoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) strike. With the window’s protective shutter closed, per flight rules, ISS managers are evaluating photos of the damage – downlinked from the International Space Station (ISS) – before they are expected to give the crew clearance to reopen the shutter.”
Murphy’s Law of Windshields: put a pane of glass on a vehicle in motion and something inevitably will go ” splat” on it…
One more experiment the ISS is running – determining the size and frequency of micrometeoroid strikes in LEO. This may feed back into the MMOD requirements of future spacestations and spacecraft.
We’re so smart. We now have an LDEF with people on board! They have kevlar T-shirts they wear with bulls eyes painted on them.
A meteoroid strike through the fuel tank of a chemically fueled manned interplanetary vehicle would probably mean a lot more than just the death of the mission.
But such a meteoroid shot through the fabric of a titanic manned interplanetary light sail several square kilometers in area, would probably just produce a tiny hole. And should be relatively harmless to the mission.
Marcel F. Williams
That’s a simplistic trade evaluation. The fuel tank would be able to withstand impact energy far larger than a solar sail would, and a sail several square kilometers in area is likely to be hit far more often than a fuel tank, with a better chance of being hit by something a whole lot bigger. The vehicle with the sail may well take a lot longer to get where it needs to go, as well, which just multiplies the risk to it.
The interplanetary flux of meteoric material is not considered to be a serious mission risk in any case.
Just don’t deploy your solar sail anywhere near the Earth, though. If you do, you’re toast.
Unlike other modules, the cupola was designed to be depressurized and the modular windows replaced via spacewalk. I don’t know if this feature made it off the drawing board.