Thermal Control Coatings Flown on Low Earth Orbit Materials Experiments

Coatings developed by AZ Technology were exposed to the space environment on two different platforms and analyzed for optical property changes. These coatings were primarily for passive thermal control, but electrostatic dissipative coatings and marker coatings were also flown. Some materials were flown on the Materials on International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) 15th and 16th flights, and some were flown on the Materials Exposure and Technology Innovation in Space (METIS) first flight. The MISSE and METIS flights were both in low Earth orbit but had very different results. Space environmental and molecular contamination effects on optical properties are reviewed. Future experiments, including the Regolith Adherence Characterization flight to the moon, are discussed.