Charge-Enhanced Contamination and Environmental Degradation of MISSE-6 SUSpECS Materials

Abstract

The effects of prolonged exposure to the LEO space environment and charge-enhanced contamination on optical, thermal, and electron emission and transport properties of common spacecraft materials have been investigated by comparing pre-and post-flight characterization measurements. The State of Utah Space Environment and Contamination Study (SUSpECS) deployed in March 2008 on board the Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-6) payload, was exposed for ~18 months on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS), and was retrieved in September 2009. A total of 165 samples were mounted on three separate SUSpECS panels on the ram and wake sides on the ISS. Some samples, particularly those exposed to atomic oxygen in the ram direction, showed pronounced effects due to exposure. Biased samples for the charge-enhanced contamination study showed subtle variations in visible and infrared reflectivity.

Spectral Light Curve Simulation for Parameter Estimation from Space Debris

“…In spite of this, satellite providers generally do not publish details concerning the attitude or surface properties of their spacecraft. Further, the appearance of objects has been found to change when exposed to the space environment for extended periods of time [42]. Consequently, the main issue lies in determining targets for which the relevant information is accessible.…”

Hybrid tungsten–carbon 2D nanostructures via in situ gasification of carbon substrates driven by ebeam irradiation of WO2.9 microparticles

“…where K is an emission coefficient that is equal to 0.5 (isotropic emission), and l is the effective escape depth of the SEs. Wilson et al developed semi-empirical expressions to obtain the escape depths of electrons of a broad range of energies in multiple materials [51], using the adequate parameters for WO 3 where J P is the irradiating current density, r is the radius of the microparticle and A its surface area. We can estimate that if we consider a particle with a radius of around 1 μm irradiated for 1 s at a current density of 0.40 A cm , 2 i.e.…”

Surface Modification of Space Exposed Materials Induced by Low Energetic Proton Irradiation

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“…The results of these studies consistently show that the space environment can induce significant changes to optical and mechanical parameters. During the mission MISSE-6 (Materials International Space Station Experiment) [13], a set of a 168 materials was exposed for 18 months on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS). It should, however, be noted that the space environment at the ISS (ca.…”