Manned spacecraft require a high-performance structure to protect against incoming micro-meteoroids and orbital debris to secure the safety of the crew onboard. It is expected that manned activities in the lunar vicinity will become more active in the future, and thus, initiatives toward the safety improvement and structural weight reduction of spacecraft are required. As methods to simulate a micro-meteoroid impact and to evaluate the performance of protection structures used for spacecraft, this report introduces case studies of hypervelocity impact tests using a two-stage light gas gun and hypervelocity impact analyses using hydrocode.
