Investigations Of Space Environment Effects On Electrically Conductive Thermal Control Coatings At Msfc

Electrically conductive thermal control coatings must maintain their electrical and optical properties in the space environment to ensure mission success. This paper details the investigations of electrically conductive coatings developed by AZ Technology for MSFC under contract NAS8-40557. Also included are the results of the RM400 coating development at MSFC for the Tethered Satellite System. Results from laboratory exposures of RM400 to atomic oxygen, ultraviolet radiation, thermal cycling, and other flight qualification data for both TSS-1 and TSS-1R missions are presented. Also included are post-flight analyses from the TSS-1 fight in August 1992 during the STS-46 mission. Emphasis of the program is on maintaining electrical conductivity, especially in vacuum, and the optical properties of solar absorptance and infrared emittance. Data from simulated space environment exposures at MSFC is presented for International Space Station candidate coatings. Also presented are results of pre-flight testing of a white and a black conductive coating selected for flight on the Passive Optical Sample Assembly-I experiment.