Mass Loss Due to Sputtering and Thermal Processes in Meteoroid Ablation

Conventional meteoroid theory assumes that the dominant mode of ablation is nby evaporation following intense heating during atmospheric flight. In this npaper we consider the question of whether sputtering may provide an alternative ndisintegration process of some importance.For meteoroids in the mass range from n10^-3 to 10^-13 kg and covering a meteor velocity range fro..