Linked Questions
18 questions linked to/from How serious a problem can outgassing of satellites be?
43
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2
answers
8k
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What is that haze on Starman's windshield?
There is a haze on the top half of Starman's windshield? It was not there in the first day o fthe launch and the video feed. It looks like fogged window, but assume it cannot be that. What is it and ...
31
votes
7
answers
8k
views
Do things get dirty in space?
I'm writing a computer game involving space exploration, where the player will come across space ships/stations that are hundreds/thousands/tens of thousands of years old. I'm also trying to make it ...
6
votes
6
answers
3k
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Do electronics and mechanical components work in a vacuum or require a sealed controlled atmosphere?
I'm curious about the electronics and other instruments on Voyager and similar spacecraft. Are the electronic components kept in open vacuum or in a sealed atmosphere? I imagine cooling gets tricky ...
9
votes
3
answers
2k
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What are the common space application adhesives used in Earth orbiting satellites?
For quite some time, I am reading about space adhesives. Selecting the right adhesive for space applications is extremely important, mainly due to the high vacuum (around 10-8 Torr), and the variation ...
12
votes
2
answers
817
views
Which are the main challenges for sample return mission from an asteroid and a comet?
The first sample return mission from a comet has been achieved by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, and the first sample return mission from an asteroid has been achieved by JAXA's Hayabusa spacecraft. What ...
5
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What is the "space grease" used to lubricate the ISS robotic arm? What are the material considerations for it?
Space.com's Spacesuit Gloves Contaminated During Friday's Historic Spacewalk quotes NASA astronaut Christina Koch (Wikipedia, NASA):
"And so," she continued, "of course, a mechanical ...
3
votes
2
answers
405
views
Do reaction wheels generally run in vacuum, or are they pressurized? Sealed or vented?
Is there some general trend for the operating pressure of reaction wheels? I can imagine low to no pressure has obvious advantages of low to no drag (more drag requiring more power, beyond that ...
3
votes
1
answer
756
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Why are some reaction wheels sealed with low pressure gas, others with vacuum?
This answer and this answer address the question Do reaction wheels generally run in vacuum, or are they pressurized? Sealed or vented? and they both mention that sometimes momentum wheels are sealed ...
3
votes
1
answer
939
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ViaSat's 18 kW solar array - largest ever for a commercial telecom satellite?
Now that the protests at Kourou Space Center in French Guiana are over, Arianne has launched both EutelSat 172B and ViaSat-2 as 2017-029A. While EutelSat 172B has a ...
9
votes
1
answer
441
views
Why is the Aeolus space laser losing power so quickly?
The BBC News article Aeolus: Wind-mapping space laser is losing power says that
Europe's Aeolus satellite was launched last year to gather data to improve weather forecasts, and its observations have ...
6
votes
1
answer
236
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Hows does "Glenn Research Center's sapphire refractive secondary concentrator" work?
Clicking through NASA.spinoff.gov I came to the page for spinnoff 2001 Glenn Research Center and found this:
Glenn Research Center's sapphire refractive secondary concentrator will be used with ...
7
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0
answers
406
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Were solar concentrators on HS-702 just a stop-gap measure until triple-junction PV cells were available?
According to Gunter's Space Page discussion of early versions of the Hughes HS-702 Bus:
The first version of the 702 used solar arrays with concentrators. These concentrators tended to early fogging, ...
1
vote
1
answer
179
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How is the atmosphere in the pressurized housing of ISS' HDEV cameras managed? Outgassing addressed?
This answer says:
The ISS live feed uses the cameras of the HDEV experiment. This is a group of four cameras in a pressurized housing attached to the outside of the ISS.
A hermetically sealed ...
6
votes
1
answer
213
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Advantages/disadvantages of wood for surface of cubesat?
Generally aluminum and kapton are the exterior surfaces of a cubesat. A Finnish/ESA cubesat, the WISA/Woodsat was launched that has plywood panels. It has protection against offgassing and very low ...
0
votes
1
answer
206
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Atmospheric influences on satellite imagery [closed]
I need to know if there's any relationship between the drag force of any point in LEO with the quantity of particles or something like that that are flying in the air that makes quality of the ...