Effect of Illumination Angle on the Performance of Dusted Thermal Control Surfaces in a Simulated Lunar Environment

Event
International Conference On Environmental Systems
Authors Abstract
Content
JSC-1A lunar simulant has been applied to AZ93 and AgFEP thermal control surfaces on aluminum substrates in a simulated lunar environment. The temperature of these surfaces was monitored as they were heated with a solar simulator using varying angles of incidence and cooled in a 30 K coldbox. Thermal modeling was used to determine the solar absorptivity (a) and infrared emissivity (e) of the thermal control surfaces in both their clean and dusted states. It was found that even a sub-monolayer of dust can significantly raise the α of either type of surface. A full monolayer can increase the α/ε ratio by a factor of 3–4 over a clean surface. Little angular dependence of the α of pristine thermal control surfaces for both AZ93 and AgFEP was observed, at least until 30° from the surface. The dusted surfaces showed the most angular dependence of α when the incidence angle was in the range of 25° to 35°. Samples with a full monolayer, like those with no dust, showed little angular dependence in α. The ε of the dusted thermal control surfaces was within the spread of clean surfaces, with the exception of high dust coverage, where a small increase was observed at shallow angles.
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Details
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/2009-01-2420
Pages
6
Citation
Gaier, J., "Effect of Illumination Angle on the Performance of Dusted Thermal Control Surfaces in a Simulated Lunar Environment," SAE Int. J. Aerosp. 4(1):279-284, 2011, https://doi.org/10.4271/2009-01-2420.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Jul 12, 2009
Product Code
2009-01-2420
Content Type
Journal Article
Language
English