Laboratory and space measurements of materials
Abstract
The SCATHA (Spacecraft Charging at High Altitude) data has shown that several dielectric materials responded to the space environment differently than was expected prior to launch. For example, there was a marked increase in the bulk conductivity of Kapton samples that were exposed to the Sun in the space vacuum. Teflon accumulated a permanent charge, which resulted in a potential difference that increased with time between it and the satellite frame. A quartz cloth thermal control material was observed to charge to higher levels on orbit than was obtained in pre-launch laboratory tests. Some of the differences between the expected and observed data have been explained by laboratory tests that more accurately model the space environment.
- Publication:
-
Nat. Charging of Large Space Structures in Near Earth Polar Orbit
- Pub Date:
- January 1983
- Bibcode:
- 1983clss.work..197F
- Keywords:
-
- Dielectrics;
- Electrical Insulation;
- Measuring Instruments;
- Spacecraft Charging;
- Current Density;
- Data Acquisition;
- Electrical Resistivity;
- Kapton (Trademark);
- Plasma Interactions;
- Teflon (Trademark);
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering