To address the challenges of space environmental effects, NASA designed the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) for an 18-month mission to expose thousands of samples of candidate materials that might be used on a space station or other orbital spacecraft. LDEF was launched in April 1984 and was to have been returned to Earth in 1985. Changes in mission schedules postponed retrieval until January 1990, after 69 months in orbit. Analyses of the samples recovered from LDEF have provided spacecraft designers and managers with the most extensive data base on space materials phenomena. Many LDEF samples were greatly changed by extended space exposure. Among even the most radially altered samples, NASA and its science teams are finding a wealth of surprising conclusions and tantalizing clues about the effects of space on materials. Many were discussed at the first two LDEF results conferences and subsequent professional papers. The LDEF Materials Results for Spacecraft Applications Conference was convened in Huntsville to discuss implications for spacecraft design. Already, paint and thermal blanket selections for space station and other spacecraft have been affected by LDEF data. This volume synopsizes those results.


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    Title :

    LDEF Materials Results for Spacecraft Applications: Executive Summary


    Contributors:
    A. F. Whitaker (author) / D. Dooling (author)

    Publication date :

    1995


    Size :

    27 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English





    LDEF Materials Results for Spacecraft Applications

    A. F. Whitaker / J. Gregory | NTIS | 1993


    LDEF materials results for spacecraft applications

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994


    LDEF Materials Results for Spacecraft Applications

    Whitaker, Ann F. / Gregory, John | NTRS | 1993


    Spacecraft Materials: Comparison Between Flight Results Obtained on LDEF and MIR

    Guillaumon, J.-C. / Paillous, A. / National Aeronautics and Space Administration | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994