They fly through space faster than a speeding bullet and they're nearly impossible to track with conventional ground-based radars. Not this time, say scientists. The interlopers are simply meteoroids, ever-present specks of dust shed by comets and asteroids. And they pose no danger to Earthlings other than occasional headaches suffered by satellite operators. Collisions with high-speed space dust can electrify satellites, scrambling software and triggering mistaken control procedures.
Meteoroids are so numerous they're impossible to avoid entirely.
If ground controllers know when Earth is going to enter a dense swarm they can orient their craft to minimize cross section or point sensitive components away from the incoming particles. This is what we recommend when we give satellite operators our meteoroid forecasts. Recurring annual meteor showers like the Leonids and Perseids are predictable. There are plenty of examples in recent years of meteor flurries that took sky watchers and satellite operators by surprise. It monitors near-Earth meteoroid activity around the clock.