DEGRADATION OF THE REFLECTANCE PROPERTIES OF SOME GSS IN SPACE, PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Анотація

A spacecraft in near-Earth orbit is
exposed to extreme environmental factors, such as high
vacuum, zero gravity, collisions with meteors and orbital
debris, corpuscular and electromagnetic radiations, etc.
These factors result in changing properties of spacecraft
surfaces which leads to changes in mechanical, optical,
electrical and physical properties of materials and
elements of spacecrafts. This paper presents experimental
data obtained from ground-based photometric
observations of several geostationary satellites (GSS) built
on different types of buses, starting from the beginning of
their operational lives and during several years after their
launches. It has been experimentally proved that spectral
reflectance properties of the satellite surface materials
undergo gradual degradation with time of the satellite’s
stay in space. Noticeable changes in spectral reflectance
properties of GSS make it possible to detect damages to
the satellite external payload. Comparison of changes in
the reflective characteristics of different platforms over
time can show the level of technical and scientific
progress of spacecraft designers