Experimental and Flight Determination of the Solar Absorptance for an OSR Radiator as a Function of Incidence Angle COMSAT Laboratories, Clarksburg, MD

Format:

Conference/Event

Author/Creator:

Kelly, W. H., author.

Conference Name:

Intersociety Conference on Environmental Systems (1986-07-14 : San Diego, California, United States)

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Warrendale, PA SAE International 1986

Summary:

An INTELSAT-funded experiment to determine the solar absorptance of optical solar reflectors (OSRs) as a function of incidence angle has confirmed the initial findings from flight data reduction on the COMSAT COMSTAR Beacon experiments. The OSR solar absorptance is shown to increase with increasing sun incidence angle. The magnitude of the increase for a body-stabilized spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit during peak solar illumination and a 66.5° incidence angle is 20 percent larger than the value normally derived from spectrophotometer measurements. These results help to explain the increases in spacecraft temperature and OSR degradation observed on many spacecraft immediately after launch which heretofore have been attributed to outgassing effects

Notes:

Vendor supplied data

Publisher Number:

860978

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license