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by ibgames

EARTHDATE: May 14, 2017

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REAL LIFE NEWS: SCIENTISTS FIGURE OUT HOW SPACE DUST ZAPS SATELLITES

by Hazed

There’s a lot of debris in Earth orbit and it’s a risk to satellites. Getting hit by a chunk of something moving at speed can cause serious damage. But tiny pieces that are too small to pierce the skin of a craft are a problem, because they create electromagnetic pulses that can affect the electronics inside.

Now scientists have figured out why. It turns out that the radio emissions come from the behaviour of a plasma that is caused by the collision.

Alex Fletcher of Boston University and MIT, and Sigrid Close of Standford University have found that if the particle is travelling fast enough (between 5 and 10 kilometres per second) a shock wave is produced that expands into the surface of the target. Material gets vaporised and ionised by the plasma.

As the plasma expands, ions and electrons spread at different speeds, and the different relative velocities causes the brief RF pulse.

The pair are working to refine their simulation so it includes more accurate representations of how the electrons move. Knowing exactly what is causing the RF pulses might lead to methods to protect the electronics on satellites from this kind of damage.

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/04/rf_pulses_from_dust_collisions_could_be_killing_satellites/

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