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Damage areas on selected LDEF aluminum surfacesWith the U.S. about to embark on a new space age, the effects of the space environment on a spacecraft during its mission lifetime become more relevant. Included among these potential effects are degradation and erosion due to micrometeoroid and debris impacts, atomic oxygen and ultraviolet light exposure as well as material alteration from thermal cycling, and electron and proton exposure. This paper focuses on the effects caused by micrometeoroid and debris impacts on several LDEF aluminum plates from four different bay locations: C-12, C-10, C-01, and E-09. Each plate was coated with either a white, black, or gray thermal paint. Since the plates were located at different orientations on the satellite, their responses to the hypervelocity impacts varied. Crater morphologies range from a series of craters, spall zones, domes, spaces, and rings to simple craters with little or no spall zones. In addition, each of these crater morphologies is associated with varying damage areas, which appear to be related to their respective bay locations and thus exposure angles. More than 5% of the exposed surface area examined was damaged by impact cratering and its coincident effects (i.e., spallation, delamination and blow-off). Thus, results from this analysis may be significant for mission and spacecraft planners and designers.
Document ID
19930020185
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Coombs, Cassandra R. (POD Associates, Inc. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Atkinson, Dale R. (POD Associates, Inc. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Allbrooks, Martha K. (POD Associates, Inc. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Watts, Alan J. (POD Associates, Inc. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Hennessy, Corey J. (POD Associates, Inc. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Wagner, John D. (POD Associates, Inc. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: NASA. Langley Research Center, LDEF: 69 Months in Space. Second Post-Retrieval Symposium, Part 2
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Accession Number
93N29374
Funding Number(s)
OTHER: SDIO-89-C-0034
PROJECT: POD PROJ. 019202
OTHER: SDIO-SC-89W-26-11
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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IDRelationTitle19930020165Collected WorksLDEF: 69 Months in Space. Second Post-Retrieval Symposium, part 2
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