Sure they can cover the space craft with a thin coat of protection but that will only stop dust-size meteorsWhat about marble-size meteors or baseball-size meteors? A chunk of rock that size going 50,000 MPH is going to need about a foot of steel to be stoppedThe more armor they put on the space craft, the heavier it is and the more fuel they needSo there's obviously a practical limit to how thick the armor can beSo what if one of those bigger meteors hits the space shuttle or MIR? Are all the astronauts / cosmonauts doomed? Why hasn't it happened yet?
Generally, the larger the rock, the rarer it isThe shuttle's been hit by sand-grain sized meteors; there was one that impacted on the shuttle's windshield in the 90's, and it was quite a crater The pressure vessels have many layers built into them; the outer one will stop small, dust-grain sized impacts; there's an inner layer that will seal around small holes created by larger impacts on the space station; The Apollo capsule had an extra layer of aluminum that was for this as well, but the lunar module had hardly any protection(Some parts of the hull were only as thick as 3 sheets of aluminum foil.) In answer to your question - they protected against the smaller - and more common - meteorsbut one of a significant size would probably create an emergency that was life threateningAs for why it hasn't happened yet - knocking wood as stated above - the larger the rock, the rarer it is.
solar powered coffee cup? don't know what you mean / how that would workbut there is sun teaYou put water and tea bags in a clear gallon glass jar, set it outside, and wait for the sun to warm up the water, which will cause the tea to bleed out of the teabagsOf course, it never gets boiling hot - which is how most people get the best flavored tea, but it is decentCoffee, on the other hand, needs boiling water (or at least VERY hot - for instant coffee) NEVER invented is an impossible task for a school project, unless it does not need to workgood luck.
