Spacecraft Optical Contamination Environment
Abstract
In the framework of this program the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratories is performing a joint experiment with AFGL to make observations of shuttle induced emission effects such as shuttle glow and thruster induced effects. In addition, observations will be made of natural background phenomena such as the aurora and airglow. At very high latitude when the shuttle transits the auroral regions we shall attempt to observe the direct effects of precipitation and precipitation induced discharges. In this program the Air Force will be flying Lockheed instrumentation as secondary payload on the shuttle and the payload or mission specialists will make observations through the orbiter windows with the equipment. The hardware is essentially a re-flight of the Auroral Photography Experiment (APE) which was flown on mission 41-G augmented with the spectrometer and Fabry-Perot. The APE experiment will be reflown again in the near future with the expanded configuration, Configuration B which includes the spectrometer and the Fabry-Perot. Keywords: Airglow; Aurora; Spacecraft glow; Spacecraft interactions; Rocket emissions; Thruster firings; Space environments.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA218088
Entities
People
- S. B. Mende
Organizations
- Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space