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Title: Orbital atomic oxygen effects on materials: An overview of MSFC experiments on the STS-46 EOIM-3

Conference ·
OSTI ID:79519

The third Evaluation of Oxygen Interaction with Materials experiment was flown on Space Shuttle Mission STS-46 (July 31 - August 8, 1992), representing a joint effort of several NASA centers, universities, and contractors. This array of active instrumentation and material exposure sub-assemblies was integrated as a Shuttle cargo bay pallet experiment for investigating the effects of orbital atomic oxygen on candidate space materials. Marshall Space Flight Center contributed several passive exposure trays of material specimens, uniform stress and static stress material exposure fixtures, the Atomic Oxygen Resistance Monitor (AORM), and specimens of thermal coatings for the EOIM-3 variable exposure mechanisms. As a result of 42 hours of spacecraft velocity vector-oriented exposure during the later phases of the STS-46 mission in LEO, EOIM-3 materials were exposed to an atomic oxygen fluence of 2.2 x 10(exp 20) atoms/sq cm. In this paper, an overview is presented of the technical approaches and results from analyses of the MSFC flight specimens, fixtures, and the AORM.

Research Organization:
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States)
OSTI ID:
79519
Report Number(s):
N-95-27629; NASA-CP-3275-PT-3; L-17430C-PT-3; NAS-1.55:3275-PT-3; CONF-9311137-; TRN: 9527637
Resource Relation:
Conference: 3. long duration exposure flight (LDEF) symposium, Williamsburg, VA (United States), 8-12 Nov 1993; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of LDEF: 69 Months in Space. Third Post-Retrieval Symposium, part 3; Levine, A.S.; PB: [10] p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English