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Outgassing monitor on VZLUSAT‐1: Preliminary results
Author(s) -
Urban M.,
Nentvich O.,
Stehlikova V.,
Sieger L.,
Mikulickova L.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
astronomische nachrichten
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1521-3994
pISSN - 0004-6337
DOI - 10.1002/asna.201813507
Subject(s) - outgassing , cubesat , launched , low earth orbit , on board , satellite , orbit (dynamics) , environmental science , aerospace engineering , space environment , water vapor , remote sensing , physics , meteorology , engineering , astronomy , electrical engineering , geology
The first results of an outgassing monitor on board of the first Czech CubeSat launched into Earth's orbit are presented in this paper. VZLUSAT‐1 was launched in June 2017 as a technological satellite and is still operating in the LEO orbit. A newly developed carbon‐fiber‐reinforced plastic, which can be used as a radiation shield, is one of the tested items on board. The amount of outgassing is one of its critical properties for space applications. Water vapor is the largest part of matter outgassed from mounted composites and other components. Thus a novel monitoring device based on several types of humidity sensors was proposed to be used on board of the VZLUSAT‐1 nanosatellite as one of the payloads. This paper presents the responses of these sensors and discusses their applicability in the space environment.