Meteoroid Hazards in the Lunar Environment

The goal of this paper is to provide a predictive model for lunar meteoroid impact for the assessment of impact risk to equipment and structures. We demonstrate that the meteoroid flux varies with respect to the inclination of the ecliptic and is non-constant due to the significant flux of meteoroid streams. The foregoing is combined with the normal component of the impact velocity having the principal effect on the mechanics of impact to explicitly demonstrate that there is a risk reduction for equipment and structures located near the lunar poles. It is also implicit that when an installation is active can be important as well as the duration of the activity. The first section of the paper is devoted to defining the velocity parameters of the lunar meteoroid environment. The second section addresses the mechanics of impact. The third section examines various protection strategies and defines some the relevant parameters. The last section offers some thoughts on risk analysis for lunar installations exposed to the meteoroid bombardment. There are gaps in the data needed to refine the model: Identifying the areas in which there needs to be more research, is as much an object of this paper as the basic model presented herein.