There’s a mystery happening in some satellites facing the Sun, and scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) are on the case. The team has been trying to figure out what is clouding up and compromising the performance of tiny, thin metal membranes that filter sunlight as it enters detectors that monitor the Sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays.
These detectors can warn us about impending solar storms — bursts of radiation from the surface of the Sun — that could reach Earth and temporarily disrupt communications or interfere with GPS readings.
Last year, the team disproved the prevailing theory: that this clouding was a buildup of carbon on the surface of the filters from organic sources stowing away on the satellite.
Mystery of the Solar Filter Degradation
NIST scientists have used experiments and modeling to explain why aluminum filters on certain sun-facing satellites have become mysteriously obstructed over time. In the new NIST model, water vapor is released, possibly from thermal blankets near the instruments. The work improves on previous models which did not take into account the effect of UV radiation and therefore predicted much less oxide growth. To fix the problem, the NIST team proposes future instruments contain a layer of carbon to stop the movement of aluminum ions and also be fitted with tubes that block incoming water vapor. Credit: Sean Kelley/NIST
Now, in a series of three new papers, the same team from NIST and LASP has made a strong case for what ..
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