[extropy-chat] Nanoengineered terrestrial solar vs.nanoengineered space solar power

[Amara Graps]

Spike:
>If you meant micrometeoroid, there are so sparse they aren't a major factor.

I wasn't following this conversation, but if you want to know geostationary
numbers:

The mean flux for interplanetary dust (impact speed dependent) is:
is 1.35x10^{-4} m^{-2}s^{-1} using a mean detetection rate of 0.54/day

The mean flux for (man-made) space debris (impact speed dependent) is:
is 6.1x10^{-4} m^{-2}s^{-1} using a mean detetection rate of 2.5/day

These numbers come from the GORID detector, which was collecting data
from a Russians telecommunications satellite in GEO during 1996-2002.

This (refereed) paper can be found here:
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0609341

and a high-resolution version here:
http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/dustgroup/~graps/dips2005/GrapsetalDIPS2005.pdf

We hope to have a longer and more detailed paper, but I'm really overloaded
these days/weeks/months.

Amara

-- 

Amara Graps, PhD      www.amara.com
INAF Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI), Roma, ITALIA
Associate Research Scientist, Planetary Science Institute (PSI), Tucson