A FREE SPACE PARTICLE CONTAMINATION SIZING/COUNTING SYSTEM FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

SPACEBORNE PARTICLES FROM EITHER MAN-MADE OR NATURAL SOURCESCAN CAUSE UNDESIRABLE EFFECTS ON SPACEBORNE OPTICAL SYSTEMS AND MICRO-GRAVITY MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS REQUIRING A "CLEAN" VACUUM. A SYSTEM CAPABLE OF MAKING FREE SPACE, MULTIPLE PARTICLE SIZE AND COUNT MEASUREMENTS WOULD BE AN ASSET FOR ESTABLISHING THE PARTICULATE CONTAMINATION ON THE STS ORBITER, THE SPACE STATION AND OTHER SPACEBORNE SYSTEMS. THE TECHNIQUE TO BE DEMONSTRATED USES A GATED XENON STROBE, CASSEGRAIN OPTICAL SYSTEMS, A SOLID STATE VIDEO IMAGER AND SIGNAL PROCESSING ELECTRONICS TO CORRELATE BACKSCATTER WITH KNOWN PARTICLE SIZES. WHAT MAKES THIS APPROACH INTERESTING IS THAT IT WOULD BE A RELATIVELY COMPACT, LOW COST INSTRUMENT CAPABLE OF CONTINUOUS MONITORING OF THE ENVIRONMENT. THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL VALIDATE THE MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE ON AN OPTICAL BENCH, ESTABLISH A MODELOF SYSTEM PERFORMANCE, AND ESTABLISH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A FLIGHT READY INSTRUMENT. PHASE II IMPLEMENTATION WOULD RESULT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A BRASSBOARD INSTRUMENT SUITABLE FOR SYSTEM EVALUATION AND VALIDATION OF THE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE MODEL.