ISMSE15

Short Course

A short course will take place on Sunday, 18th of September 2022 from 1 PM to 6 PM at ESA - ESTEC.

There are still a few last places available, please indicate your interest in attending the short course during the completion of the registration form. We will contact you shortly after your registration with an email to confirm your participance at the short course or if the course is already fully booked.

Preliminary Agenda:

12.00 - 13.00 Entry to ESTEC, light refreshments and welcome

13.00 – 13.40 Overview of the space environment and its impact on spacecraft materials

Adrian Tighe (European Space Agency, ESTEC, The Netherlands)

The lecture will describe how materials behave in the space environment, highlighting the unique risks compared to terrestrial applications. Examples of common materials used for typical space applications and the associated space environmental effects will be provided, together with some real life examples of investigations from ESA’s space projects. The role of the materials engineer within the space product assurance discipline will be described, to highlight the tasks required in order to demonstrate the compatibility of the materials with the space environment and to ensure that the materials remain fit for purpose for the lifetime of the mission. An introduction will be provided to the main space standards.

13.40 – 14. 20 Neutral environment : Atomic Oxygen and drag effects in LEO and VLEO

Timothy Minton (University of Colorado, Boulder, USA )

Atomic oxygen (AO) interactions with surfaces on satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) can degrade the function of materials through reactions that result in erosion (ablation) and oxidation. As orbital altitude decreases, the exponential rise in atmospheric density increases the AO, as well as the N2, flux on satellite surfaces, increasing the AO hazard and adding the challenge of drag if a satellite is to operate in very low Earth orbit (VLEO). The exposure of materials in a LEO or VLEO environment can provide important phenomenological data on the performance of these materials in a specific environment. Still, ground-based testing can provide performance data at lower cost, and laboratory experiments can illuminate the relevant chemical and physical interactions when AO and/or N2 bombards a surface, thus providing information to guide the development of space-durable materials and the prediction of their behavior in a particular environment. This lecture will review the important gas-surface interactions that may affect satellite operation in LEO/VLEO environments, as well as approaches to mitigate the effects of these interactions. In addition, considerations for informative ground-based testing and relevant laboratory experiments will be discussed.

14.20 – 15.00 Combined effects of the induced and natural environments

Irina Gouzman ( Soreq NRC, Israel)

The lecture will highlight many of the different synergistic effects which can occur in the space environment, including UV and AO effects on contaminant deposits, photofixation/photpolymerization, degradation of thermo-optical properties of materials, radiation induced outgassing

15.00 – 15.30 Coffee break

15.30 – 16.30 Contamination control in space projects

Carlos Soares (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA)

The lecture will cover the fundamental principles of cleanliness and contamination control for space projects. This will include:

Desorption, diffusion and adsorption
Modeling & analysis: Fick’s laws of diffusion, the Arrhenius equation
Analytical techniques and measurements: ASTM E 595, ASTM E 1559, Multi-species modeling
Importance and lessons learned (failures caused by outgassing induced contamination)
Fabrication, cleanroom operations, thermal-vacuum, I&T, ATLO
Particulate generation (materials, during flight)
Plume induced contamination and erosion effects (bipropellant, monopropellant, electric propulsion)
Plume models

16.30 – 17.15 Radiation and charging effects on materials

Sophie Duzellier and Thierry Paulmier (The French Aerospace Lab, ONERA, France)

In orbit materials are fully exposed to radiations due to absence of shielding i.e. paints on radiators and thin films of MLI, coatings, solar cells assemblies …, all embedded in critical sub-systems (thermal control, optics, power generation). Among the large variety of materials, polymers are known to be prone to ionizing radiation and ageing mechanisms. Consequently, the physico-chemical properties are affected by radiation and thus the thermo-optical, electrical and mechanical performance.

Charging process can also be hazardous for the satellite systems: the high potential differences initiated between the adjacent and neighbour space elements may induce electrostatic (ESD) and arc discharges on the satellite. Electric behavior of polymers can actually be noticeably altered through high radiation dose effect.

Space mission profiles are also diversifying and for instance, Electric Orbit Raising (EOR) orbits imply a prolonged exposure to electrons and protons in radiation belts (and thus higher dose and energies encountered)

This lecture will provide a description of the radiation and plasma environments, as well as covering fundamental principles of particle/matter interactions leading to effects on materials. Ageing and charging mechanisms will be illustrated by study cases showing the main risks for spacecraft. Lastly, an overview of ground based testing techniques will highlight the criticality of representativeness of ground experiments.

17.15 – 18.00 Closing remarks, questions and pre-registration for the ISMSE conference (TBC)

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Biographies of Speakers

Adrian Tighe is a Senior Materials Engineer in the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality at the European Space Agency in ESTEC, where he has worked since 2001. He supports ESA space projects and works with ESA’s industrial partners on all issues related to the effects of the space environment on materials and coatings, with the direct involvement of ESA’s materials and components test laboratories. Recently, he has worked for ESA’s Aeolus mission on issues related to laser induced contamination and damage of the optical components, and the Bepi Colombo mission, where he tackled issues related to the compatibility of materials with the harsh Mercury environment. Before joining ESA, he obtained his Ph.D. and held a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Southampton, UK, performing research into the effects of high velocity space debris particle impacts on materials.

Timothy K. Minton is a professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the Univ. of Illinois in 1980 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1986. Following two post-doctoral positions, at the Univ. of Illinois and at the Univ. of Zürich, Switzerland, he became a Member of Technical Staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA in 1989. In 1995, he joined the faculty at Montana State University, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, from which he transferred to the University of Colorado in the Summer of 2020. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His current research projects include studies of gas-phase and gas-surface energy transfer and reactions, including boundary layer chemistry in shock layers on hypersonic vehicles, oxidation and decomposition of heat-shield materials, the detection of gases in rarefied planetary atmospheres, satellite drag, and the development of new and more durable materials for use on spacecraft in low Earth orbit.

Irina Gouzman received her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1999 from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. After receiving her PhD degree, she jointed Soreq NRC where she is working on the effects of space environment on materials durability. Her research interests are in the areas of applied surface science and materials characterization by a variety of electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. In 2021-2022 she spent her sabbatical at Prof. Timothy K. Minton’s Lab, Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, at University of Colorado, Boulder, focusing on atomic oxygen interaction with polymers. Currently, she is the head of the Space Environment Department at Soreq NRC.

Carlos Soares is a Principal Engineer with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Technical Group Supervisor for Contamination Control Engineering in the Mechanical Systems Division. His primary research areas are thruster plume effects, materials outgassing, contaminant transport, molecular gas dynamics, surface and materials science, optical and thermo-optical property degradation, and space environments and effects. His current projects include Mars 2020, Europa Clipper, Mars Sample Return, Lunar Gateway and Human Landing Systems, and Europa and Enceladus Lander Advanced Technology Development. Past projects include Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs. Carlos received his B.S. in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and his M.S. from the OU, followed by research in Computational Fluid Dynamics and Propulsion at the NASA Center for Space Propulsion Engineering at Penn State University.

Thierry Paulmier received his Engineer degree in material physics in 1996 from Grenoble Institute of Technology and the Ph.D. degree in materials physics and instrumentation in 2000 from the University of Toulouse. He is currently Research Director at the Physics Instrumentation and Space Department of ONERA since 2007. He is involved in experimental and theoretical studies for the analysis of electrical charging and discharging effects on space materials. He currently manages technical and scientific studies performed in the ONERA irradiation facilities used for the simulation of electron spectra in GEO, MEO, LEO and planetary orbit and the characterisation of charging behaviour of space elements. His research activities are focused on charge transport mechanisms in dielectric and space materials, development of measurement techniques and test methods and on electrical ageing of space used polymers.

Sophie Duzellier is graduated from INSA Engineering School and obtained her Ph.D. degrees in microelectronics at Toulouse University. She joined ONERA in 1989 in the Space Environment department to address radiation effects in electronic devices. She is currently senior Materials Engineer in the DPHY department (Physics Instrumentation Environment Space) working on effect of Space environment on surface materials (thermal control, solar arrays) and developing flight experiments (PI of MEDET ISS-2009, RESISTACK in SESAME/EMA experiment for ISS-2023 mission…). She has recently worked on JUICE and EUROPA CLIPPER missions (radiation induced-ageing thematic, qualification) and supported Industry in development and ground testing of new materials and devices (thermo-chromic materials…). She is also performing research in the field of new generation of solar cells (Perovskite with CEA-Liten, IIIV technologies with LAAS), flexible polymer and silicone encapsulation (ONERA PhDs), Atomic Oxygen monitoring and effect, and radiation-synergy with contamination.