Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) 2020 Conference

Dr Kondyurin of Ewingar Scientific has been nominated as the Main Scientific Organiser (MSO) for the session Influence of Free Space Environment on the Behaviour of Materials at the 2020 COSPAR Conference.

The free space environment is destructive for all materials used in the construction of space systems such as satellites, space stations, spaceships, and future space bases. The destructive factors of the space environment include high vacuum, large temperature variations and gradients, high energy ionising radiation, ultraviolet radiation, meteoroids and orbital debris and atomic oxygen. These factors are significantly different from our experience on the surface of the Earth. The ability to replicate the effects of the space environment on material performance using ground based laboratory facilities is difficult. Space flight experiments that characterise the temporal response of material parameters during space exposure help to validate ground-based testing methodology. The understanding of physical-chemical processes in the construction of space materials is a key factor for our success in space exploration in the future.

The scientific event, Influence of Free Space Environment on the Behaviour of Materials, will include presentations on:

• • • • The composition of the free space environment, Modelling the free space environment,
      • The influence of the free space environment on material behaviour including physical – chemical processes associated with the construction of space materials,
      • Results of space flight materials experiments and ground-based testing capability to emulate the free space environments’ influence on material behaviour,
      • New material development demonstrating a high tolerance to space environmental effects.