View Publication | CEMHTI CNRS UPR3079 Orléans France

M.Balat-Pichelin, D.De Sousa Meneses, J.Annaloro, 'Behavior and optical properties of Zerodur® at high temperatures', Infrared Phys. Technol. 101 68-77 (2019) doi:10.1016/j.infrared.2019.06.001

Some optical pieces of satellites orbiting in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) are made in Zerodur®. At the end of the mission and to be compliant with the new French Space Operations Act, the satellite must reenter the atmosphere down to the Earth ground. Thus, it is necessary to measure some properties of Zerodur® such as its melting temperature and total emissivity. Experimental results of the behavior of Zerodur® in air plasma conditions up to 2000 K are presented together with the values of the spectral emissivity up to 1900 K. Then the refractive index and the extinction coefficient can be derived from the emissivity measurement. Finally, the total emissivity is calculated and a polynomial law taking into account the thickness and the temperature is proposed for its implementation in the atmospheric reentry code.