micrometeoriten.

1949 F. L. Whipple in Science 28 Oct. 438/1 The term micrometeorite is here defined as an extraterrestrial body that is sufficiently small to enter the earth's atmosphere without being damaged by encounter with the atmosphere.

1956 Spaceflight 1 27/1 The density of meteorites and micro-meteorites (interstellar dust) in space will also be of interest to the designers of manned research vehicles.

1967 Technol. Week 23 Jan. 47/1 Unlike a terrestrial observatory, it will have to have airtight quarters, well-protected against radical temperature change, hard radiation and micrometeorite bombardment.

1973 McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 277/2 Bodies less than about 0.1 mm can also be expected to survive, since their size permits them to radiate the tremendous heat energy due to friction with the atmosphere before it can cause vaporization. These smaller bodies are usually called micrometeorites, or while still in space, micrometeoroids.

1986 R. T. Dodd Thunderstones & Shooting Stars i. 3 Micrometeorites and similar ablation droplets..retain some of the chemical properties of the meteoroids from which they came, but melting completely erases their original mineralogy and texture.

1993 Independent on Sunday 4 Apr. (Review Suppl.) 61/1 A tiny puncture in the protective clothing—from a micrometeorite the size of a pebble..—would cause a space walker to explode.

1958 Science 11 Apr. 799/1 Collection of micrometeoritic samples.

1974 Nature 20 Dec. 669/2 Micrometeoritic craters.

1988 Nature 12 May 151/1 Io and Callisto have porous, fluffy surfaces due (in the former case) to the deposition of volcanic particles, and (in the latter case) to eons of micrometeoritic bombardment on a primordial surface.