Wow 2cm is still huge if it rams into the ISS at 10km/s. It's like a 20mm bullet with at least 5 times the speed of a gun round (not sure how fast guns are actually :) What are those 'whipple shields'? Are those the foil sheets that basically vaporise the object (and part of the shield) so it won't penetrate the inner hull?
I assume they have better tracking than 2cm for the orbit the ISS is in? Does the ISS have its own radar warning? Though I guess if it sees it coming it's already too late for avoidance.
> Are those the foil sheets that basically vaporise the object (and part of the shield) so it won't penetrate the inner hull?
Yes. Orbital hypervelocity impacts basically vaporize immediately on hitting anything, so you can offset a thin material in front of what you want to protect and cause any incoming object to turn into a cone of many much smaller objects which are less likely to penetrate the main hull.
I assume they have better tracking than 2cm for the orbit the ISS is in? Does the ISS have its own radar warning? Though I guess if it sees it coming it's already too late for avoidance.