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Optical Properties of Thermal Control Coatings after Exposure to 90 keV Electrons

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Abstract

Thermal control paints are widely used in spacecraft industry to protect the spacecraft/satellite surfaces from the deleterious effects of the space environment. Dynamic reflectivity of spacecraft materials must be taken into account for improved space situational awareness (SSA). Additionally, a thorough characterization of each spacecraft material’s optical properties while on orbit can be used for designing of spacecraft surfaces for optimal thermal properties throughout a mission lifetime. This work presents the initial experimental results on performance of different organic and inorganic thermal control paints manufactured by AZ Technology exposed to various fluences of high energy (90 keV) electrons, designed to simulate a portion of the geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) space environment. In-vacuo reflectance spectroscopy was utilized to qualify and quantify radiation induced changes of optical properties in the studied coupons of thermal control paints.

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to acknowledge support from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Remote Sensing and Imaging Physics Portfolio (Dr. Arje Nachmann; grant 17RVCOR414), AZ Technology for supplying materials for the study, and A. Sokolovskiy for the assistance with data acquisition process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Assurance Technology Corporation, Carlisle, MA, 01741, USA

    Elena A. Plis & Daniel P. Engelhart

  2. Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, AFB, Kirtland, NM, USA

    Russel Cooper, Dale Ferguson, Stephanie Schiefer & Ryan Hoffmann

  3. NASA Johnson Space Center, University of Texas-El Paso-Jacobs JETS Contract, Houston, TX, 77058, USA

    Heather Cowardin

  4. Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Miles Bengtson & Jordan Maxwell

Authors
  1. Elena A. Plis
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  2. Daniel P. Engelhart
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  3. Russel Cooper
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  4. Dale Ferguson
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  5. Stephanie Schiefer
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  6. Ryan Hoffmann
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  7. Heather Cowardin
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  8. Miles Bengtson
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  9. Jordan Maxwell
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Correspondence to Elena A. Plis.

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This article belongs to the Special Topic Section: Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS 2018 & 2019)

Guest Editors: James M. Frith, Lauchie Scott, Islam Hussein

An earlier version of this article was first presented at the 19th Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference, held in Wailea, Maui, Hawaii, September 11-14, 2018.

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Plis, E.A., Engelhart, D.P., Cooper, R. et al. Optical Properties of Thermal Control Coatings after Exposure to 90 keV Electrons. J Astronaut Sci 67, 1636–1647 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40295-020-00241-0

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