ATOMIC OXYGEN GROUND TESTING FACILITIES : RELIABILITY OF THE REFERENCE SAMPLE

摘要

Ground testing of erosion due to atomic oxygen (AO) is performed using Kapton~R as a reference sample. Kapton~R is used to monitor the presence of AO and to estimate the AO fluence of the test. Experimental results presented in this paper show that the change in mass or thickness of the reference sample does not necessarily represent the actual AO fluence of the test. Results suggest that the nature of the tested sample in the vicinity of the 'reference' may strongly influence the etching rate measured with the reference. It is very important to determine if the etch rate of the reference used in the test is affected by the tested samples nature.