Space Dust and Debris: Proceedings of the Topical Meeting of the Cospar Interdisciplinary Scientificcommission B (Meetings B2, B3 and B5) of the Cospar Twenty-Eighth Plena(Advances in Space Research S.)

The papers presented in this publication can be divided into three sections. The section entitled Orbital Debris includes papers which develop techniques to define the environment through models which describe spacecraft traffic and fragment generation from explosions and random collisions; papers which test model predictions through measurements of the environment, the effect that the environment will have on spacecraft and scientific investigations; and techniques to either minimise the effect of the environment or minimise the environment. In Situ Measurement and Laboratory Analysis of Space Dust Particles presents data from NASA's Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) following its recovery by the space shuttle in January 1990. The importance of the LDEF data for an understanding of the particulate space environment is apparent from the preliminary analysis. Ideas on the interrelations between asteroids, comets and dust are changing rapidly. Observations from the spacecraft IRAS, VEGA, GIOTTO and groundbased telescopes have defined more clearly the nature of comets and asteroids.

Table of Contents:
Section headings and selected papers: Orbital Debris . Summary of the AIAA/NASA/DoD Orbital Debris Conference: technical issues and future directions, A Potter et al . The impact of alternative mission models on the future orbital debris environment, R C Reynolds et al . Protecting and manoeuvring of spacecraft in space debris environment, D Rex et al . Collision probability and spacecraft disposition in the geostationary orbit, W Flury. Cosmic dust and orbital debris: collection on MIR space station, J C Mandeville. In Situ Measurements and Laboratory Analysis of Space Dust Particles . Study of cosmic dust particles on board LDEF: the FRECOPA experiment, J C Mandeville. First spatio-temporal results from the LDEF interplanetary dust experiment, S F Singer et al . Out-of-ecliptic distribution of interplanetary dust derived from near Earth flux, B Kniessel & I Mann. G;otto extended mission, G Schwehm. Comparative Studies of Comets, Asteroids, and Dust . Light scattering by rough surfaces on asteroidal/lunar regoliths, T Mukai & S Mukai. ;rganic particles of cometary dust in space, V N Lebedinets. Dust optical properties: a comparison between cometary and interplanetary grains, A C Levasseur-Regourd et al . Photoelectric and CCD photometry of 951 gaspra, C Blanco et al . Author Index.