Radiation-hardness testing of thin film coatings on radiators for spacecrafts

A test plan for innovative radiators’ coatings will be presented in this master degree thesis. Such test plan is part of the BIOSMART RADIATOR project, a space research project whose final objective is to develop a new technology for radiators in aerospace industry. These thermal regulation systems are based on two important aspects: 1. a bio-mimetic radiator’s surface, which is able to passively change its shape according to its temperature; 2. the application on such surfaces of innovative coatings, whose thermo-optical properties are less affected by degradation than usual coatings. This project is funded by Italian Space Agency (ASI) in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space Italia; other partners include Roma 3 University, CREO (Centro Ricerche Elettro-Ottiche) and CNR-IEIIT (CNR - Institute of Electronics, Information Engineering and Telecommunications). This thesis contains part of the work done by the CNR-IEIIT group of Padua, whose ultimate task is to provide a test plan for above-mentioned innovative coatings and perform environ- mental testing. More specifically, this thesis provides the test plan for radiation testing of samples, which consists of the analysis of project requirements, the evaluation of the actual ECSS standards, the characterisation of the space environment for target space missions and the analysis of available testing facilities and tests methodology.