Posted on by Scott Alan Johnston

Ouch. Canadarm2 Took a Direct Hit From a Micrometeorite

Canadarm with a micrometeorite impact: ESA/NASA-A.Mogensen.

Living in space comes with risks. For astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), those risks occasionally make themselves intrusively apparent.

Earlier this month, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen snapped a photo of the Canadarm2, in which damage from a micrometeorite impact is clearly visible.

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Posted on by Andy Tomaswick

NASA has a Ballistic air gun to Hurl Rocks at Space Suits to Test Their Micrometeorite Protection

Shock testing is commonly used throughout engineering to determine how a product will do when impacted by something.  That something could be anything from the ground to a cruise missile.  Like so much else in space exploration, engineers at NASA are performing the same type of test, just scaled up.  Instead of simply dropping the object under test, as is common in most settings, they shoot it with a steel ball going 3000 ft/second.

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