Excitation and Diagnostics of Optical Contamination in the Spacecraft Environment
Abstract
The ultraviolet and infrared contaminant glows produced by spacecraft traversing the thermosphere are identified and their spatial extents and brightnesses estimated from laboratory reaction-rate data, in support of planning of systematic spectroradiometric measurements from space shuttle. A formalism is developed for calculating radiances and irradiances of the emissions from metastable molecules formed at vehicle surfaces exposed to the atmosphere, which serves in selecting the view projections and angular fields of optical sensors. Keywords: Spacecraft glow; Surface chemistry; Optical contamination; Excitative recombination; Photometry and Radiometry; Chemical kinetics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA202429
Entities
People
- C. A. Trowbridge
- I. L. Kofsky
- J. L. Barrett
- Nghi H. Tran
- P. N. Mcnicholl
- T. E. Brownrigg