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Scope: This Handbook provides spacecraft designers with materials durability data for long-duration exposure to the low Earth orbit (LEO) atomic oxygen environment. The Handbook provides spacecraft designers a single source for the determination of atomic oxygen erosion durability of polymers being considered for spaceflight. It provides background information on LEO atomic oxygen and documents the atomic oxygen erosion yield (Ey, volume loss per incident oxygen atom (cm3/atom)) of 38 different polymer materials and pyrolytic graphite, which were exposed to LEO atomic oxygen for ~4 years on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS). Also included in this Handbook are ground-laboratory to in-space correlation data for 38 polymer materials and pyrolytic graphite in a radio frequency plasma asher, optical property changes for 38 polymer materials and pyrolytic graphite after 4 years of space exposure, an atomic oxygen erosion yield predictive tool that allows the prediction of erosion yields of new or non-flown polymers, tools for using atomic oxygen erosion yield data for spacecraft durability applications, and lessons learned on the environmental durability of spacecraft materials from spaceflight experiments.

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OCE