Results from the Space Technology Research Vehicle 1a Atomic Oxygen Experiment

摘要

An experiment to make in situ measurements of thermospheric atomic oxygen fluxes and their effect on some common spacecraft materials has been flown in orbit on board the Space Technology Research Vehicle la microsatellite. The results from active sensors were based on resistance measurements of silver films and were interpreted relative to space simulations made in a ground-based pulsed laser atomic oxygen source. It was concluded that silver resistance sensors can be used to measure atomic oxygen fluxes but are best suited to low flux environments, e.g., < 10~(14) atoms cm~(-2) s~(-1). Some silver sensors were overlaid with thin coatings to measure the erosion resistance of the coating materials. It was found that erosion rates were affected by the structure of the materials; this structure must therefore be taken into account in experiment and spacecraft design.