Microparticle impacts are a relevant threat for spacecraft. The highest risk typically comes from mm to cm sized particles which are more abundant than larger particles and still have sufficient energy to cause catastrophic failures. It is challenging to detect these particles from ground due to their small size and by in-situ detectors due to the comparably low flux. To reduce the uncertainties on the current flux estimates in this size range the statistics for in-situ detection needs to be increased by a larger sensitive area. The objective of this activity is to evaluate the feasibility of an optical monitoring system of laser sheets, as indicated in the figure taken from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2014.07.031, for relevant environments (LEO, GEO, interplanetary particle population) and host constraints (e.g. CubeSat, piggyback payload). In particular a system with multiple laser sheet seems desirable as it allows for the reconstruction of particle velocity vector and the reduction of systematic uncertainties by coincidence measurements.
