What are the possible risks of collision with meteorites and debris?
The main risk for KEO is the possibility of a collision with micrometeorites or space debris of human origin. This is the reason why the core of KEO is protected by several layers of shields made from aluminum, titanium and tungsten, that are separated by a vacuum. Nevertheless, if the pollution of human origin in space continues to grow at its present level over the next fifty years (+5% per annum), KEO would have practically no chance of survival. There is no doubt, however, that restrictive measures will be taken to prevent this, since space debris is not only endangering the operation of costly military, scientific and commercial satellites, but more importantly, threatening the lives of astronauts in space shuttles and stations. Thus, the big spatial groups like the NASA or the ESA are already developing programmes to “clean” this debris. This is the reason why we consider this risk as non significant.
