Abstract:
The polymer materials on the surface of the low Earth orbit(LEO) spacecraft are subjected to the simultaneous action of the neutral atmospheric atomic oxygen(AO) and the solar far ultraviolet(FUV) radiation. This paper reviews the related ground test facilities both at home and abroad, and it is shown that an in-depth study of the simulation parameters is important. We propose a method for calculating the fluence of the AO and the irradiance of the FUV against the on-orbit time, and analyzes the input data. The AO flux and the FUV radiance in the solar max year and the solar min year are calculated for a cubic satellite model in a typical orbit with regard to the ram face and the non-ram face, respectively. And the ratio of the FUV irradiation to the AO fluence is traced with the orbiting time. The ratio between them is suggested as a key parameter of the test conditions, to improve the effectiveness of the ground test simulation for studying the synergistic effect of the atomic oxygen and the far-ultraviolet radiation to the exposed polymer materials.