Development and testing of coatings for orbital space radiation environments

摘要

Specific coating processes and materials were investigated in the quest to develop multilayer coatings with greater tolerance to space radiation exposure. Ultraviolet reflection (UVR) and wide-band antireflection (AR) multilayer coatings were deposited on solar cell covers and test substrates and subsequently exposed to simulated space environments and also flown on the Materials International Space Station Experiment-7 (MISSE-7) to determine their space environment stability. Functional solar cells integrated with these coatings underwent simulated UV and MISSE-7 low earth orbit flight exposure. The effects of UV, proton, and atomic oxygen exposure on coatings and on assembled solar cells as related to the implemented deposition processes and material compositions were small. The UVR/AR coatings protected flexible polymer substrate materials that are intended for future flexible multijunction cell arrays to be deployed from rolls. Progress was made toward developing stable and protective coatings for extended space-mission applications. Test results are presented.