Aeolian removal of dust from radiator surfaces on Mars

Conference · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994

OSTI ID:10181438

Gaier, J R; Perez-Davis, M E; Rutledge, S K ^[1]; Hotes, D ^[2]

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1. Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH (United States)
2. Cleveland State Univ., OH (United States)

Simulated radiator surfaces made of arc-textured copper and niobium-one percent-zirconium, and ion beam textured graphite and carbon-carbon composite were fabricated and their integrated spectral emittance characterized from 300 to 3000 K. A thin layer of aluminum oxide, basalt, or iron (III) oxide dust was then deposited on them, and they were subjected to low pressure winds in the Martian Surface Wind Tunnel. It has been found that dust deposited on simulated radiator surfaces may or may not seriously lower their integrated spectral emittance, depending upon the characteristics of the dust. With Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} there is no appreciable degradation of emittance on a dusted sample, with basaltic dust there is a 10-20 percent degradation, and with Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} a 20-40 percent degradation. It was also found that very high winds on dusted highly textured surfaces can result in their abrasion. Degradation in emittance due to abrasion was found to vary with radiator material. Arc-textured copper and Nb-1%Zr was found to be more susceptible to emittance degradation than graphite or carbon-carbon composite. The most abrasion occurred at low angles, peaking at the 22.5{degrees} test samples.

• Research Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Cleveland, OH (United States). Lewis Research Center
• Sponsoring Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (United States); USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AI03-86SF16310
• OSTI ID: 10181438
• Report Number(s): NASA-TM-103205; CONF-900828-13; ON: DE94051242; TRN: 94:008340
• Resource Relation: Conference: 1990 summer national meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE),San Diego, CA (United States),19-22 Aug 1990; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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