Скачать или смотреть The Whipple Shield Effect - The Hephaestia Settlement

We thank you for watching our experiment!

We are a team of highschool students from “Saint Sava” National College participating in the NSS “Gerard K O’Neill” Space Settlement Contest.

We simulated the Whipple shield by layering 4 aluminum foils between 5 pairs of books of the same dimensions stacked on top of eachother. Then, we placed heavy objects on top of the books so that the foils stayed in place. We used a rock with the dimensions of 1.5×1.5×1 cm³ and dropped it from different heights to simulate debris damage. The dimensions of one stand of books are 9 cm in height and 13 cm in width.
1. Seeing how many drops it takes the rock to penetrate the first layer of aluminum.
a. Dropping the rock from 45 cm from ground level
It took the rock 3 drops to penetrate the first layer and an additional 4 drops to penetrate it the second time. As the height was pretty low, the rock landed around the same area every time, so the damage easily accumulated.
b. Dropping the rock from 60 cm from ground level
It took the rock 5 drops to penetrate the first layer and an additional 4 drops to penetrate it the second time.
c. Dropping the rock from 90 cm from ground level
It took the rock 3 drops to penetrate the first layer and after an additional 7 drops, it tore apart completely.


2. Seeing how many drops it takes for the rock dropped from 90 cm from ground level to penetrate the last layer of aluminum.
As mentioned before, the rock penetrated the first layer after 3 drops. The second layer was penetrated after another 10 drops, the third layer was penetrated after another 13 drops, and the fourth layer was penetrated after another 9 drops.
We concurred that replacing the damaged layers of the shield is very important, as damage accumulates over time.