Satellites such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station are under new threat from the most powerful meteor storm in more than a decade, Nasa scientists have warned.
Astronomers believe the seven-hour bombardment from the comet debris, due later next year, could strike orbiting spacecraft and wreck their electronics.
Space Agency scientists said it will likely create a spectacular visual event for star gazers.
Nasa said the storm, which crosses the Earth's orbit around the sun every October, comes from a meteor shower called the Draconids.
It has been given that name because the meteors appear to stream in from the direction of the constellation of Draco the Dragon. They are also known as the Giacobinids after the name of the comet that dumped them, Giacobini-Zinner.
Nasa scientists admitted this week they were unclear how serious the storm will be, but spacecraft operators were already being notified to develop defensive mechanisms.
As a result, Nasa is currently investigating reorienting the international space station and Hubble space telescope to ensure vulnerable areas are turned away from the incoming sandblast.
Spacewalks could also be banned until the threat from the river of rock particles has passed.
But satellites, including those providing vital services such as communications, satnav and television, will weather the storm.
Apart from the physical danger from a direct strike, electrostatic discharges can fry their vital electronics.
Most years rates are fairly low, but can dramatically increase about every 13 years as the Earth travels through the densest part of the stream of particles.
Rates peaked at 54,000 meteors an hour for any single observer under ideal conditions in 1933 and 10,000 in 1946.
The last major display happened in 1998, peaking at a few hundred every hour, which was still the largest seen for recent years.
Dr William Cooke, from the Meteoroid Environment Office at Nasa’s Marshall Space Flight Centre in Alabama, said contingency plans were already being developed to avoid problems when the storm is expected to hit.
His computer predictions concluded that several hundred meteors an hour could be visible from the earth on October 8 next year.
"We really didn't understand what was going on. Now we have a much better feel," he told space.com.
"We're already working with (other) Nasa programmes to deal with spacecraft risk. I imagine when the word gets out there will be a Draconid outburst, I'll get the usual calls from … companies as well as government space programs.
“If you are hit by a sporadic [meteor], it's an act of God. If you are hit by a shower meteoroid, it's an act of negligence.”
He added: "Even if the Draconids were a full-scale meteor storm I would be confident that the space station (officials) would take the right steps to mitigate the risk."
His warnings were first aired at a meteoroid conference last month in Colorado.
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