This paper presents the results of the hypervelocity projectile bombardment of a gold-coated beryllium substrate telescope mirror. Individual latex (ρ = 1.1 g/cm³) and iron (7.9 g/cm³) projectiles, in the size range 0.70 to 1.44μm (avg. mass = 0.24 - 7.1 x 10^-15 kg), representative of interplanetary dust, with velocities from 2 - 20 km/s, created impact craters in the composite mirror structure that were approximate hemispheres. The ratio of impact damage diameter to projectile energy was found experimentally to be close to 0.1μm/nJ for both latex and iron projectiles. These dimension data, combined with recent measurements of interplanetary and interstellar dust fluxes, can be used to estimate expected space telescope mirror surface damage and scattering increase due to hypervelocity dust impacts.

Date Published: 12 October 2004
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 5487, Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Space Telescopes, (12 October 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.552236

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5487:
Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Space Telescopes
John C. Mather, Editor(s)