Environmental Variation in Contamination Outgas Testing of a Composite Material

Abstract : Molecular contamination degrades sensitive spacecraft surfaces and can adversely affect the useful life of a spacecraft. In order to accurately predict mission performance, a thorough understanding of the emission and condensation of potential spacecraft contaminants is necessary. Potential sources of contamination include composite materials that are often used for large structural components. The large mass of these composite structures can represent the largest outgassing source on a spacecraft. This report documents a series of tests that were performed to investigate the outgassing characteristics of a proprietary composite material. These tests measured the mass outgassed by the material when exposed to a vacuum environment at elevated temperatures and the deposition of the outgassed species on surfaces held at specific temperatures. The results indicate that testing a material under a variety of environmental conditions can provide a valuable array of outgassing information.