Development of a Silicone Adhesive for OSR Bonding

Optical solar reflectors (OSR) are used for the thermal control of spacecraft on the sun-facing sides of satellites. The operating principle is based on the reflection from incoming solar radiation while simultaneously radiating internally-generated heat. OSR are small specific glasses (40 × 40 × 0.1 mm) surface of which has been treated in order to obtain maximum reflectance of sun irradiation. In some cases, these OSR are manually bonded onto panels and the bonding appears as a time-consuming step in the satellite production because it comes at the end of the production of some structural panels, which are often on the critical path.