Studies of Techniques for Measuring Spaceborne Gaseous Contaminants and Particulates in the Near Field

Abstract

This report outlines techniques for monitoring the water vapor and particulate contamination in the vicinity of a spacecraft. The water vapor concentration is measured by first dissociating the water vapor with VUV radiation from a krypton flashlamp and then monitoring the intensity of the chemiluminescence from the dissociation products. The particle properties are measured by illuminating particles in field of view of an imaging detector with visible radiation from a xenon flashlamp. The number of particles as well as the size and velocity distributions are obtained. This report also describes models developed to predict the water vapor and particulate contamination environments in the vicinity of spacecraft. The models take into account previous spaceborne contamination measurements.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 18, 1989
Accession Number
ADA228927

Entities

People

  • G. E. Galica
  • O. Shepherd
  • S. A. Rappaport
  • W. P. Reidy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Cameras
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Dissociation
  • Electromagnetic Radiation
  • Geometry
  • Krypton Lamps
  • Measurement
  • Mie Scattering
  • Optics
  • Particle Size
  • Quantum Efficiency
  • Quantum Yields
  • Radiation
  • Scattering
  • Scattering Cross Sections
  • Xenon Lamps

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Molecular Photonics/Laser Physics

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster