The United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of the

Burton G Cour-Palais

Jeanne L Crews

A hypervelocity impact shield 10 and method for protecting a wall structure, such as a spacecraft wall 12, from impact with particles of debris having densities of about 2.7 g/cm.sup.3 and impact velocities up to 16 km/s. The shield comprises a stack of ultra thin sheets 11 of impactor disrupting material supported and arranged by support means 13 in spaced relationship to one another and mounted to cover the wall 12 in a position for intercepting the particles. The sheets 11 are of a number and spacing such that are impacting particle 15 and the resulting particulates of the impacting particle and sheet material are successively impact-shocked to a thermal state of total melt and/or vaporization to a degree as precludes perforation of the wall. The ratio of individual sheet thickness to the theoretical diameter of particles of debris which may be of spherical form is in the range of 0.03 to 0.05. The spacing between adjacent sheets is such that the debris cloud plume of liquid and vapor resulting from an impacting particle penetrating a sheet does not puncture the next adjacent sheet prior to the arrival thereat of fragment particulates of sheet material and the debris particle produced by a previous impact.

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Houston, TX, United States of America

Burton G Cour-Palais