Cosmic dust and micro-debris measurements on the MIR space station Original Research Article

During the last ten years, investigation of impact features found on material retrieved from low earth orbit, after exposure to space for a long period of time, has provided us with a great deal of data on the particulate environment, either natural or man-made. Between 1987 and 1997, several detection devices have been deployed outside the Russian MIR space station. Passive sensors are composed primarily of stacked thin metal foils (gold and aluminum). Depending on the size of the particles, they are either decelerated or fragmented upon high velocity impact. The size of holes or impact craters give information on the size or shape of the impacting particles. Samples have been retrieved for laboratory analysis. In addition, solar cells from a solar array retrieved by a Shuttle-MIR mission have been searched for impact craters. Comparison with data from LDEF, and HST provides insight in the long-term evolution of small particle population and in the debris environment of a permanently manned station. Several samples show evidence of secondary impact cratering: an attempt is made to locate the origin of primary impact sites. Some results about the possible origin of the impactors are provided by the chemical identification of particle remnants inside the craters.