Question

What are the possible hazards of the asteroid belt to space missions?

Several, or, at least, that’s what we used to think. Before the launch of Pioneer 10 in 1972, scientists were convinced that the rocky material of the asteroid belt posed a serious threat to any scientific instrument that tried to pass through it. However, Pioneer 10 proved these fears ungrounded. While many minor impacts were recorded, no apparent damage was incurred. In fact, the anticipated concentration of small particles did not exist; the spatial density of small particles in the asteroid belt was found to be no greater than in the surrounding interplanetary space! The Pioneer 10 weathered a seven-month passage through the rock-strewn region and emerged without major incident, dispelling the myth of a hazardous asteroid belt. Likewise, the mission demonstrated that future spacecraft would be able to pass through without special protection. Pioneer 10 paved the way to exploration of the outer solar system - for Voyager to visit the outer planets, for Ulysses to explore outside the ecliptic, for Galileo to visit Jupiter, and for Cassini to see Saturn and Titan. For additional information, please see http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNhome.html and http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/pioneer10
April 30, 2002