The Coatings and Environmental Effects Monitor (CEEM) flight experiment

This paper describes the Coatings & Environmental Effects Monitor (CEEM) flight experiment. The purpose of the CEEM experiment is to gather atomic oxygen (AO) material response and contamination phenomenology data required in the design of low earth orbit (LEO) and long duration spacecraft. The need for CEEM stems from a lack of high AO fluence flight data and the inability of ground test facilities to generate the needed data. The measurement objectives of CEEM are to: (a) quantify the erosion and surface property degradation of important space materials/ coatings; (b) investigate the accretion of contaminants via ultra-violet (UV) polymerization; (c) investigate the reaction of AO with silicones; and (d) quantify the amount of molecular contaminant backscattering. To generate the needed data, CEEM uses five different kinds of measurement devices calorimeters to measure cc/s degradation, photodiode and capacitance based devices to measure AO erosion, a pressure gauge, and TQCMs to measure contaminant mass build-up. CEEM has been fully designed and breadboard tested but not yet built. Planned originally for the TRMM spacecraft in August 1997, CEEM could not be completed for TRMM and is currently in search of project funding and a high AO fluence spacecraft on which to fly.