Evidence of Microparticles Generated by Atomic Oxygen from Degraded Spacecraft Materials on Orbit

Abstract

The fact that atomic oxygen（AO）causes degradation of organic materials used in spacecraft due to erosion and oxidation is known. Nevertheless, it is not well known about the occurrence of this phenomenon that microparticles and gas so-called AO induced contamination at the same time and its effects. However, for example, microparticles generated by AO can have various effects on a spacecraft on orbit, such as changes in the optical surface properties of the spacecraft, like micro size space debris with a diameter of 1 mm or less. Therefore, JAXA and CNES are jointly conducting research in this field as one of the focus areas of our research cooperation activities. The first purpose of this research is to accurately understand the characteristics of contaminants（particles and/or molecules）generated from spacecraft materials by collision of AO. The second objective is to characterize the effects of contaminants on sensitive surfaces of spacecraft. In this paper, we introduced the experiment conducted to clarify the first objective using thermal control materials commonly used in spacecraft with a particular focus on microparticles and the future plan.