Recent results from space shuttle meteoroid/orbital debris pre-flight risk and post-flight damage assessments

NASA's Bumper code is utilized to perform pre-flight meteoroid/orbital debris risk assessments prior to each Shuttle mission. The pre-flight risk assessments are used to determine the relative risk of each proposed mission. When the assessment indicates that the mission profile results in risks outside the accepted limits, changes to the mission profile are analyzed until such time as an acceptable risk is achieved. Pre-flight risk assessments are also used to test our knowledge of the orbital debris environment. At the conclusion of each Shuttle mission selected areas on the Orbiter are carefully inspected for meteoroid/orbital debris damage. Areas that are of particular importance are the Orbiter's radiator panels, the windows, and the reinforced carbon-carbon on the leading edge of the wings and on the nose cap. Contents of impact damage craters are analyzed using a scanning electron microscope to determine the nature and origin of the impactor, A review of the preflight predictions and the post flight damage assessments is presented for a series of Space Shuttle missions. In addition data is presented on meteoroid/orbital debris damage to the Hubble Space Telescope as observed during the 1994 and 1997 Hubble repair missions.