The Leonid meteoroid shower: Lessons learned from 1997 and plans for 1998-2001

This paper discusses the upcoming Leonid meteoroid storm and its effects on spacecrafts. All satellites will be hit by tiny meteoroids but most of them will cause no problem. Penetration of spacecraft components is less of a threat than the plasma-related effects - ground currents and communication noise arising when impact-generated plasma strikes the antennae. Results from the 1997 monitoring campaign suggest that the storm intensity will be less than previously believed but sufficiently large uncertainties in both the number of meteoroids and the impact phenomenology that spacecraft owners and operators are urged to review the mitigation options presented in the paper and develop their own plans. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.