Interstellar Dust Module for the ESA Meteoroid Model
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The ESA meteoroid model predicts impacts of meteoroids in the mass range between $10^{-18}$ to $10^0$ g on spacecraft surfaces. It covers heliocentric distances from 0.3 to 20 AU. Measurements of the dust detector on board the highly successful joint ESA/NASA mission Ulysses have shown, that the flux of meteoroids with masses between $10^{-15}$ and $10^{-12}$ g is, at least in the outer Solar System, dominated by interstellar dust grains that traverse the Solar System as it travels through the local interstellar cloud. We present a simple semi-analytic interstellar dust model that can easily be included in the ESA meteoroid model, together with a more precise determination of the flux direction of the interstellar dust stream. The model is based on the assumption that interstellar dust dynamics have two effects: solar gravitation and radiation pressure determines the spatial distribution, and Lorentz-interaction of the charged particles creates a temporal variation.
3 pages, 4 figures, uses LaTeX2e, esaproc.cls, and authordate.sty, to appear in Proceedings of the 3rd European Space Debris Conference, 19.-21. March 2001 Darmstadt
3 pages, 4 figures, uses LaTeX2e, esaproc.cls, and authordate.sty, to appear in Proceedings of the 3rd European Space Debris Conference, 19.-21. March 2001 Darmstadt