Development of structure with secondary defense function against space debris impact

In the Japanese experiment module (Kibo) of the International Space Station (ISS) under construction, the effective defense means are not established yet against an impact of space debris between 1 cm and 10 cm in diameter which cannot be observed from ground and shielded by the bumper. Then we have proposed a concept of a self-shielding bumper as an alternative bumper. In the previous self-shielding bumper, the self-shielding materials were put in a pressurized region, and they were subject to severe heat damage due to a hypervelocity impact. In this paper, we put them in vacuum between the front bumper and the rear wall (pressurized wall) in the Stuffed Whipple type bumper. And this test is evaluated using a new evaluation equation, we proposed the most effective installation position and method of the self-shielding materials.