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Full-Text Articles in Physics
Sensor Design For In-Flight Testing Of Small-Satellite Thruster, Alex Souvall
Sensor Design For In-Flight Testing Of Small-Satellite Thruster, Alex Souvall
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Measuring And Modeling The Conductivity Of Highly Insulating Materials, David King
Measuring And Modeling The Conductivity Of Highly Insulating Materials, David King
Senior Theses and Projects
Satellites and other spacecraft must be able to withstand hazardous conditions in order to be viable in their expected operating environments. One specific hazard that occurs due to incident radiation is spacecraft charging. Insulating materials, frequently used in spacecraft and other electrical equipment, while very good at preventing charge flow, also store charge very well. This can create problems; specifically, “if the charge decay time exceeds the orbital period, not all charge will be dissipated before orbital conditions act again to further charge the satellite. As the insulator accumulates charge, the electric field will rise until the insulator breaks down” …
Temperature Dependence Of Electron Yield In Low-Density Polyethylene, Jordan Lee
Temperature Dependence Of Electron Yield In Low-Density Polyethylene, Jordan Lee
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Uv Degradation Of Polycarbonate, Katie Gamaunt
Uv Degradation Of Polycarbonate, Katie Gamaunt
Senior Theses and Projects
The decrease in visible and ultraviolet transmission spectra of polymeric and glass spacecraft materials has been measured to determine the extent of degradation due to high-energy UV radiation similar to the solar spectrum (both above and below the stratosphere, which is where most of the UV radiation is absorbed). This project looked at the effects that the atmosphere has in regards to blocking UV radiation and thus, slowing down the UV degradation process. A polycarbonate sample was exposed to radiation from a focused high intensity deuterium lamp source, which generates radiation in the UVA and UVB spectrum. A particularly severe …
Microcontroller And Memory Card Survivability In Space Conditions, Windy Olsen
Microcontroller And Memory Card Survivability In Space Conditions, Windy Olsen
Senior Theses and Projects
The Utah State University (USU) Materials Physics Group (MPG) is interested in the performance of Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) microcontrollers in space conditions. Microcontrollers are commonly used on CubeSats, small relatively inexpensive satellites that are flown in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes of ~160 km-2000 km. There is a large area of interest in COTS microcontrollers because they provide a more cost-effective on-board computer for CubeSats. This experiment focused on the functionality of an ATmega328 microcontroller on an Arduino Uno board inside the MPG’s Space Survivability Test (SST) Chamber. A diagnostic program was used to try to detect …
Microcontroller Survivability In Space Conditions, Windy Olsen
Microcontroller Survivability In Space Conditions, Windy Olsen
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Microcontroller And Memory Card Survivability In Space Conditions, Windy Olsen
Microcontroller And Memory Card Survivability In Space Conditions, Windy Olsen
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Measuring And Modeling The Conductivity Of Highly Insulating Materials, David King
Measuring And Modeling The Conductivity Of Highly Insulating Materials, David King
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Electron Yield Measurements Of High-Yield, Low-Conductivity Dielectric Materials, Justin Christensen
Electron Yield Measurements Of High-Yield, Low-Conductivity Dielectric Materials, Justin Christensen
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Degradation Effects Of Ionizing Radiation On Spacecraft Components And Biological Samples, Alex Souvall
Degradation Effects Of Ionizing Radiation On Spacecraft Components And Biological Samples, Alex Souvall
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Uv Degradation Of Polycarbonate, Katie Gamaunt
Uv Degradation Of Polycarbonate, Katie Gamaunt
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Temperature Dependence Of Electrostatic Breakdown In Highly Disordered Polymers, Tyler Kippen
Temperature Dependence Of Electrostatic Breakdown In Highly Disordered Polymers, Tyler Kippen
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Developing A Safe Test System For High-Energy Electron Flux Environments Testing, Heather Tippets
Developing A Safe Test System For High-Energy Electron Flux Environments Testing, Heather Tippets
Senior Theses and Projects
In order to predict and mitigate adverse environmental effects on spacecraft in orbit about Earth, a versatile pre-launch test capability for assessment and verification of small satellites, systems, and components was developed by Utah State University’s Materials Physics Group. To further diversify this project, a 100 mCi Sr-90 beta radiation source (0.5 MeV – 2.5 MeV) is exploited to simulate the high energy electron flux of geostationary orbit. Various samples including in-the-loop hardware, spacecraft materials, optical components, and solar arrays are irradiated to gain a better understanding of how these materials and electronics break down in space environments. For employee …
Radiation Safety Design For High Energy Electron Flux Environments Testing, Heather Tippets
Radiation Safety Design For High Energy Electron Flux Environments Testing, Heather Tippets
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Degradation Effects Of Ionizing Radiation On Commercially Available Spacecraft Components, Alex Souvall
Degradation Effects Of Ionizing Radiation On Commercially Available Spacecraft Components, Alex Souvall
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Predictive Formula For Electron Range Over A Large Span Of Energy, Anne C. Starley
Predictive Formula For Electron Range Over A Large Span Of Energy, Anne C. Starley
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Predictive Formula For Electron Range Over A Large Span Of Energy, Anne C. Starley, Jr Dennison
Predictive Formula For Electron Range Over A Large Span Of Energy, Anne C. Starley, Jr Dennison
Senior Theses and Projects
A model developed by the Materials Research Group that calculates electron penetration range of some common materials, has been greatly expanded with the hope that such extensions will predict the range in other, perhaps, more interesting materials. Developments in this extended model aid in predicting the approximate penetration depth into diverse classes of materials for a broad range of energetic incident electrons (<10 eV to>10 MeV, with better than 20% accuracy). The penetration depth—or range—of a material describes the maximum distance electrons can travel through a material, before losing all of its incident kinetic energy. This model has started to predict …
Dependence Of Electrostatic Field Strength On Voltage Ramp Rates For Spacecraft Materials, Krysta Moser
Dependence Of Electrostatic Field Strength On Voltage Ramp Rates For Spacecraft Materials, Krysta Moser
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Degradation Of Space Polymers: A Case Study, Kelby T. Peterson
Degradation Of Space Polymers: A Case Study, Kelby T. Peterson
Senior Theses and Projects
Materials International Space Station Experiment 6 (MISSE-6) was an experiment designed to examine the consequences of the space environment on various materials used in space-component design. USU’s contribution was comprised of approximately 180 samples that were suspended from the side of the International Space Station (ISS) for 18 months and returned to allow for pre- and post-flight comparisons. The sample with the most evident changes was a thin film of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) MylarTM coated with Vapor Deposited Aluminum (VDA). The post-flight analysis showed evidence of atomic oxygen erosion of the VDA layer, UV-induced discoloration of the polymer, and a …
Simulation Of Uv Radiation Degradation Of Polymers On Misse-6 In The Low Earth Orbit Environment, Kelby T. Peterson, Jr Dennison
Simulation Of Uv Radiation Degradation Of Polymers On Misse-6 In The Low Earth Orbit Environment, Kelby T. Peterson, Jr Dennison
Senior Theses and Projects
Materials International Space Station Experiment 6 (MISSE-6) was an experiment designed to examine the consequences of the space environment on various materials used in space-component design. USU’s contribution was comprised of approximately 180 samples that were suspended from the side of the International Space Station (ISS) for 18 months and returned to allow for pre- and post-flight comparisons. The sample with the most evident changes was a thin film of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) MylarTM coated with Vapor Deposited Aluminum (VDA). The post-flight analysis showed evidence of atomic oxygen erosion of the VDA layer, UV-induced discoloration of the polymer, and …
Statistical Variation Of Diverse Light Emission Measurements From Bisphenol/Amine Epoxy Under Energetic Electron Bombardment, Justin Christensen
Statistical Variation Of Diverse Light Emission Measurements From Bisphenol/Amine Epoxy Under Energetic Electron Bombardment, Justin Christensen
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Electrostatic Breakdown Analysis, Sam Hansen
Electrostatic Breakdown Analysis, Sam Hansen
Senior Theses and Projects
Materials potentially suitable for spacecraft construction were exposed to electrostatic discharge in the USU Materials Physics Group lab, with hopes of identifying samples that possess greater resistance to breakdown. Breakdown shape and size may be important to determining material suitability for spacecraft construction [1]. The discharge damage sites of tested samples were examined, measured and logged into a matrix file for data analysis. Once logged, data was sorted within the matrix and compared graphically to identify trends.
Electrostatic Breakdown Analysis, Sam Hansen, Jr Dennison, Allen Andersen
Electrostatic Breakdown Analysis, Sam Hansen, Jr Dennison, Allen Andersen
Senior Theses and Projects
Materials potentially suitable for spacecraft construction were exposed to electrostatic discharge in the USU Materials Physics Group lab, with hopes of identifying samples that possess greater resistance to breakdown. Breakdown shape and size may be important to determining material suitability for spacecraft construction [1]. The discharge damage sites of tested samples were examined, measured and logged into a matrix file for data analysis. Once logged, data was sorted within the matrix and compared graphically to identify trends.
Cathodoluminescence Events Coincident With Muon Detection, Kenneth Zia
Cathodoluminescence Events Coincident With Muon Detection, Kenneth Zia
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Improved Measurements In Conductivity For Highly Disorganized Resistive Materials, Phil Lundgreen
Improved Measurements In Conductivity For Highly Disorganized Resistive Materials, Phil Lundgreen
Senior Theses and Projects
Determining the electrical properties of highly insulating materials can be a challenging task. These materials are designed to greatly resist the flow of electrical current. This makes them useful for various applications including terrestrial transmission lines, spacecraft charging, and capacitor-driven charge storage devices. Every year over 370 billion kWhr are lost during transportation along power lines in the US. That is roughly $36B which is thrown away each year due to inefficiency in our power transmission network (1). Due to the fact that satellites are isolated from ground, charging caused by the plasma environment found at typical orbital radii (2) …
Faraday Cup Designs For High Efficiency Determination Of Energy- And Angular-Resolved Charged Particle Fluxes, Kent Hartley, Jr Dennison
Faraday Cup Designs For High Efficiency Determination Of Energy- And Angular-Resolved Charged Particle Fluxes, Kent Hartley, Jr Dennison
Senior Theses and Projects
In order to build a spacecraft, we must understand how the construction materials will behave in the space environment (i.e. when subjected to the solar wind). The USU Materials Physics Group performs electron emission tests on spacecraft materials in an Ultra-high vacuum (UHV) test chamber (Fig.1). The chamber utilizes Faraday cups (Fig.2) in order to quantify electron flux at a location within the chamber. This measurement is important in characterizing beam profiles of electron guns used in UHV experiments. Perhaps more importantly, the Faraday cups are used to detect secondary electrons (SE) and back-scattered electrons (BSE) emitted from the surface …
Cathodoluminescence Measurements Of Several Bisphenol/Amine Epoxy Samples, Justin Christensen
Cathodoluminescence Measurements Of Several Bisphenol/Amine Epoxy Samples, Justin Christensen
Senior Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Faraday Cup Designs For High Efficiency Determination Of Energy- And Angular-Resolved Charged Particle Fluxes, Kent D. Hartley
Faraday Cup Designs For High Efficiency Determination Of Energy- And Angular-Resolved Charged Particle Fluxes, Kent D. Hartley
Senior Theses and Projects
Faraday cups provide a simple and efficient apparatus to measure the absolute magnitude of charge particle fluxes, and with the addition of a retarding field analyzer and defining apertures the capability to determine the energy and angular distributions of the fluxes. Through careful design of the electron optics, a Faraday cup can be tailored to meet specific requirements for detector size, minimum detectable flux, collection efficiency, absolute accuracy, energy discrimination, and angular resolution. This project explores optimal design concepts through electric field and charged particle trajectory simulations, theoretical analysis, and evaluation of experimental prototypes to develop compact, high efficiency Faraday …
Evaluation Of The Temperature Dependence Of Endurance Models Of Electrostatic Breakdown, Charlie Sim, Jr Dennison
Evaluation Of The Temperature Dependence Of Endurance Models Of Electrostatic Breakdown, Charlie Sim, Jr Dennison
Senior Theses and Projects
The goal of this research was to investigate temperature and time dependent models for the electrostatic breakdown of polymeric spacecraft insulators. Temperature dependent breakdown was found by inducing an electrostatic breakdown in the prototypical polymer Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) at various temperatures. Time dependent breakdown was found by applying a static voltage to LDPE and measuring the time to electrostatic breakdown. No significant temperature dependence of the electrostatic breakdown of LDPE was observed in a temperature range of 150 K to 300 K. The time dependent results show that the time to electrostatic breakdown is modeled by a negative logarithmic …
The Effects Of Surface Roughness On Diffuse Optical Reflection And Photoyields On Spacecraft Materials, Amberly Evans Jensen
The Effects Of Surface Roughness On Diffuse Optical Reflection And Photoyields On Spacecraft Materials, Amberly Evans Jensen
Senior Theses and Projects
The goal of this project was to measure the change in the absorbance of spacecraft materials due to changes in the surface of the material. The absorbance was obtained by measuring reflectance and transmittance. We found that modifying the surface of a material did affect the material’s specular reflectance. However, the change may not have been entirely due to an increase in absorbance, but may also imply an increase in the diffuse reflection. To understand the affect on absorbance, diffuse reflectance and transmission will need to be measured. This will lead to a prediction of how surface modification affects the …