Modeling the meteoroid environment far from the ecliptic plane

2025/12/09 by Moorhead, Althea V., Pokorný, Petr, Holden, Marcus A. +1
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) #FOS: Physical sciences #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Planetary Science and Exploration #Spacecraft Dynamics and Control

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.09171

openalex publication_date 2025/12/09 · openalex created_date 2025/12/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We describe a new version (numbered 3.1) of NASA's Meteoroid Engineering Model (MEM) in which we extend the model to handle locations that lie more than a few degrees in latitude off the ecliptic plane. We provide our algorithms for computing the spatial density and directionality of meteoroids far from the ecliptic and discuss their applications. In particular, we demonstrate how correct modeling of the out-of-ecliptic environment is critical for accurately assessing the risk posed by meteoroids to solar observation missions such as Solaris.

Citations

• How long-lived grains dominate the shape of the Zodiacal Cloud
• Solaris: A Focused Solar Polar Discovery-class Mission to achieve the Highest Priority Heliophysics Science Now
• NASA's Meteoroid Engineering Model (MEM) 3 and its ability to replicate spacecraft impact rates
• Forbidden mass ranges for shower meteoroids

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• NASA's Meteoroid Engineering Model (MEM) 3 and its ability to replicate spacecraft impact rates
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• A Single Physical Model for Diverse Meteoroid Data Sets
• Interstellar Dust Module for the ESA Meteoroid Model
• Solar Wind and Motion of Meteoroids