Tiny Space-Debris Detector Will Fly to Station This Week

How many tiny bits of space debris are pummeling the International Space Station day after day? A new experiment headed into orbit this week will find out. NASA's Space Debris Sensor is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule on Tuesday (Dec 12). The sensor is designed to gather data on micrometeoroids and pieces of space debris, each about the size of a sand grain — far too small to be tracked from the ground. The sensor will reveal how frequently these bits of material collide with the station, how fast they are moving when they hit and the direction they came from. More

(Source: Space.com - Dec 11)