Materials for Inflatable Aerobrake Deorbiting System
Siguier, Jean Michel¹; Dupuy, Christian^2
1ONERA; ²CNES

In order to reduce the de-orbiting time of the MICROSCOPE satellite, an aero-braking system called IDEAS is under development. It is based on a boom inflation system deploying a 10m2 sail. To be validated, this sail has to keep its surface integrity all along the de-orbiting period estimated to 25 years. We present here the different steps which have led to the multi-layer membrane chosen for this sail considering all the requirements: feasibility, foldability, weight/surface specification, deployment, in-orbit thermal behaviour and orbital aging.

For the foldability point of view, tests have been done on different aluminized Kapton made sample, to evaluate the degradations and her consequences in space environment. Fold and unfold process has been applied and after that observation shown damages on the aluminium layer. Some of the fold samples were testing under the ESTEC ATOX facility.

Orbital environment parameters are particularly detailed and material sensitivity to this environment accurately assessed.