HYPER VELOCITY IMPACT DAMAGE TO SPACE FLYER UNIT THERMAL CONTROL SURFACES

摘要

Presented here are the latest results of the post-flight analysis of the Space Flyer Unit, Japan's first retrievable spacecraft. The morphology of impact features in silverised Teflon second-surface mirrors (SSMs) and aluminised Kapton multi-layer insulation (MLI) is discussed. Morphological comparisons are made between laboratory and space impacts into MLI material. Flux figures are shown for various SFU surfaces and compared with fluxes from earlier spacecraft, such as the Long Duration Exposure Facility and EuReCa. A summary of the hypervelocity impact calibration programme is given, including laboratory tests carried out at 5 km s~(-1) and around 3.5 km s~(-1) into Kapton film of various thicknesses. The results of these tests are shown.