Space environments and induced damage mechanisms in materials

DEarth-orbiting hardware operates in environments that generally include neutral particles, charged particles such as trapped protons and electrons, solar protons, cosmic rays, and dilute low energy plasma. Debris from other spacecraft, natural micrometeoroids, direct and reflected solar photons, and thermal radiation and magnetic fields from the earth may each degrade materials. Materials must survive exposure to each of these phenomena in the hard vacuum of the space environment. The range of earth orbit environments are described and selected aspects of the interactions of materials with the space environment are discussed. Results of examination of materials flown in space on the long duration exposure facility (LDEF) and the passive optical sample assembly (POSA) experiments are used to illustrate the unique effects resulting from exposure to the low-earth orbit environment. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.