What happens to a solid block of aluminum when a 0.5 ounce piece of plastic hits it at 15,000mph in space.

Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by flam1n
image showing What happens to a solid block of aluminum when a 0.5 ounce piece of plastic hits it at 15,000mph in space.

trainsphobic on April 7th, 2019 at 15:08 UTC »

That's because aluminum is a little bitch metal

jsg144 on April 7th, 2019 at 16:35 UTC »

What happened to the plastic.

SheepCantFly on April 7th, 2019 at 18:17 UTC »

https://bigthink.com/news/heres-the-damage-a-tiny-speck-of-space-debris-can-do-at-15000mph

An anonymous user on Reddit, who apparently works in the aerospace field, posted an image of what a 1/2oz of space debris can do to a block of solid aluminum. This test was done by a light-gas gun in close quarters and shows how much damage even a tiny amount of space debris can do: