Figure 7-32. Potential collision frequency. Severity of collision damage will depend upon what part of the spacecraft is impacted. The relative susceptibility of various subsystems to collision damage is a function of exposed planform area (Table 7-11). Note that any one collision encounter may impact more than one subsystem. Thus, the total number of impacts exceeds the total SPS collision encounters. Table 7-11 indicates that the reflectors, solar cell blanklets, and array structure are the elements most likely to sustain collision damage. These elements, however, are the most easily repaired and incur the least probable consequences of a collision. The space station and other relatively small elements would probably expect only two or three LEO impacts and only one in GEO, during the 30 year program.
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