In order to avoid electrostatic discharge on satellites caused by the accumulation of electric charges on their external surface, thermal control coatings should have a surface resistivity between 106 Ohm/square and 1010 Ohm/square or a bulk conductivity higher than 10-8S.cm-1. The polysiloxane resin of a cold thermal control coating, the flexible solar reflector (FSR), was filled with different conducting nanoparticles: indium tin oxide, zinc oxide and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Adding conducting nanoparticles increased the electrical conductivity of the FSR but also degraded its thermooptical properties. A simulation test of electron bombardment in geostationary orbit was performed on some samples. The existence of electron bombardment induced conductivity allowed oxide-filled composites to evacuate electric charges more effectively than the CNT-filled composites. None of the composites exhibited the required properties for a new version of FSR for geostationary orbit. Although charge dissipation was achieved with two samples, their thermo-optical properties were not acceptable.
Development of a flexible solar reflector for geostationary spacecraft
Entwicklung eines flexiblen Solarreflektors für geostationäre Raumfahrzeuge
2008
8 Seiten, 6 Bilder, 3 Tabellen, 17 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Development of a Flexible Solar Reflector for Geostationary Spacecraft
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