DIAGNOSTIC CONTAMINATION MEASUREMENTS FOR SPACE

THE PROBLEM ADDRESSED IS TO VALIDATE THE RELEVANT SPACEBORNE DIAGNOSTIC HARDWARE BY MEASURING AND QUANTIFYING CONTAMINANTS AND THEIR IMPACTS ON THE OPTICAL/STRAYLIGHT REJECTION PERFORMANCE OF A CRYOGENIC HIGH STRAYLIGHT REJECTION TELESCOPE. PHASE I WILL ADDRESS THE CONTAMINATIONPROBLEM ON THE GROUND USING METHODS SUCH AS INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL BRDF (BIDIRECTIONAL REFLECTANCE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION) MEASUREMENTS, TGA QCM (THERMAL GRAVIMETRIC QUARTZ CRYSTAL MICROBALANCE) ANALYSIS AND ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY MEASUREMENTS. ALL OF THESE TECHNIQUES ARE APPLICABLE TO A SPACE ENVIRONMENT, WHICH IS THE GOAL OF A PHASE II FLIGHT EXPERIMENT.