ML-101 Thermal Control Coating Spaceflight Experiment

Abstract

This report describes a thermal control coatings experiment conducted on the Air Force P72-1 satellite which was launched into a low earth polar orbit in October of 1972. The objectives of this experiment were to measure the amount of degradation of experimental thermal control coatings after exposure to the space environment and to correlate these results with those of space exposure for the same coatings measured in ground-based laboratory simulation equipment. Based on selected data from over 5000 revolutions covering a period of one year, it was found that all the coatings initially degraded to a greater degree than expected, possibly due to contamination. The most stable coatings were optical solar reflectors and the least stable was a white alpha-Al2O3 pigmented coating. An experimental fabric material showed greater stability than state-of-the-art white coatings.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1975
Accession Number
ADB008182

Entities

People

  • Daniel E. Prince

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Sensors
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Altitude
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Computer Programs
  • Detectors
  • Differential Equations
  • Energy
  • Equations
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • Materials
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Measurement
  • Optical Properties
  • Solar Energy
  • Spacecraft
  • Test And Evaluation

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering.
  • Mathematics or Statistics
  • Surface Coatings Technology.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Satellites