Abstract
Context. Micrometeoroid or space debris impacts have been observed in the focal planes of the XMM-Newton and Swift-XRT (X-ray Telescope) X-ray observatories. These impacts have resulted in damage to, and in one case the failure of, focal-plane Charge-Coupled Device (CCDs) detectors.
Highlights
On 27 May 2005, after just 6-months in orbit, an anomalous event occurred in the focal-plane Metal Oxide Semi-conductor (MOS) Charge Coupled Device (CCD) detector of the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT)
This event has been interpreted as an impact by a micrometeoroid or space debris particle travelling at hypervelocity, such that the strength of the material is small compared with the inertial stresses during the impact
In this paper we present a simple model for particle propagation and scattering in X-ray optics, and derive the micrometeoroid collecting power for Swift-XRT, XMM-Newton and Chandra
Summary
On 27 May 2005, after just 6-months in orbit, an anomalous event occurred in the focal-plane Metal Oxide Semi-conductor (MOS) Charge Coupled Device (CCD) detector of the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT). By applying a model for the fluxes of the micrometeoroid and space debris populations in various orbits, and scaling to the XMM-Newton impact history, the probability of future impact events and the risks associated with various particulate sources have been estimated. From this analysis it can be shown that the probability of damage by impacts is dependent on a telecope’s collecting area, optical geometry (bandpass), field of view and orbit. Carpenter et al.: Meteoroid and space debris impacts in grazing-incidence telescopes
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