Local Environment Surrounding the Midcourse Space Experiment Satellite During Its First Week

Green, B. D.; Galica, Gary E.; Mulhall, Phillip A.; Uy, O. Manuel; Lesho, Jeffrey C.; Boies, Mark T.; Benson, Richard C.; Phillips, Terry E.; Silver, David M.; Erlandson, R. E.; Wood, B. E.; Hall, D. F.; Mill, John D.

doi:10.2514/2.3308

Cited by 4 publications

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Flashlamp instruments for measuring the Midcourse Space Experiment satellite contamination environment

Galica

Green

Atkinson³

et al. 1998

Review of Scientific Instruments

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The xenon flashlamp (XF) and krypton lamp and radiometer (KLR) are two of a suite of instruments that monitor the particulate and gaseous contamination environments of the Midcourse Space Experiment spacecraft. The near-field particulate measurement comprises the high-intensity XF that illuminates a volume of space in the field of view of a wide field-of-view visible imager. Radiation scattered by illuminated contaminant particles is imaged. The intensity of the radiation is related to a particle’s size and composition. The particle’s track yields information about its velocity and trajectory. From ground calibration data we estimate a sensitivity to detect particles smaller than 1 μm and to determine cross-field velocities from 1 mm s−1 to 50 m s−1. We present early mission particulate data from known particle-generating events and from comparatively quiescent times. These results are consistent with previous measurements. The KLR measures the local H2O density in a volume of space approximately 0.5 m from one corner of the spacecraft. The instrument comprises an array of krypton vacuum ultraviolet line source lamps that dissociate H2O and a near-UV radiometer that detects the chemiluminescence from the OH dissociation products. Ground calibrations indicate that the instrument has sufficient sensitivity to detect H2O densities as low as 1.5×107 molecules cm−3. H2O is the primary outgassed species during the early part of a spaceflight, and is a particular concern to cryogenic sensors, such as the Spatial Infrared Imaging Telescope III (SPIRIT III) on this spacecraft. Early mission results are in overall agreement with prelaunch predictions.

show abstract