Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Young Members Night
Technical Chair Tiffany Dux
5:30-6:00 Tour Museum
6:00 Buffet Dinner
7:00 Presentation
“Materials in Space: Spacecraft Environmental Durability”
by Kim de Groh
Materials and devices used on the exterior of spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) are subjected to environmental threats that can cause degradation in material properties, possibly threatening spacecraft mission success. These threats include atomic oxygen, photon radiation, charged particle radiation, temperature effects and thermal cycling, impacts from micrometeoroids and debris, and contamination. The Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) program, which includes participants from government, industry and universities, addresses the long duration environmental durability of spacecraft materials and devices in the LEO environment through a series of flight experiments. Experiments developed by principal investigators are loaded onto suitcase-like trays, called Passive Experiment Containers (PECs), and are exposed to the space environment on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS). The MISSE trays are retrieved and returned to Earth enabling post-flight experiment evaluation. Seven MISSE PECs have been flown and successfully retrieved to date (MISSE 1-6). MISSE 7A & 7B are scheduled for launch during the STS-129 shuttle mission, scheduled for November 16, 2009. This presentation provides an overview of the MISSE program and includes examples of NASA Glenn’s individual experiments and flight data, along with examples of how the MISSE flight data has been used for ground-facility calibration and for improved LEO environmental durability prediction. Glenn’s collaboration with high school students on several MISSE experiments will also be presented.
Kim de Groh, is a Senior Materials Research Engineer in the Space Environment and Experiments Branch at NASA Glenn Research Center where she has conducted research, and mentored students, for the past 20 years. Kim received her MS and BS degrees in materials science from Michigan State University in 1985, and 1987, respectively.
Kim is an internationally known technical leader in areas relating to the durability of spacecraft materials. Through experiments in space and ground-based experiments, Kim assesses how the space environment affects spacecraft materials. Kim has participated in shuttle flight experiments, two Russian Space Station Mir experiments, and she is the principal investigator for 12 International Space Station experiments. Her research has directly impacted the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station, and is influencing spacecraft material design choices made by NASA, the Department of Defensive and our nation’s space industry.
Kim has authored or coauthored 97 technical publications. She is an invited author of a book chapter entitled “Degradation of Spacecraft Materials” in the Handbook of Environmental Degradation of Materials (2005), and she is currently writing a NASA Technical Standards handbook for spacecraft designers based on her flight data. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards for her research contributions and mentoring efforts. Kim has received two of NASA’s highest honors: the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal and the Space Flight Awareness Honoree Award. In August 2009, Kim was honored by being inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame by Governor Ted Strickland.
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