Combined Effect of High Temperature and VUV Radiation on Carbon-Based Materials

For the next exploration of the sun, missions like Solar Probe+ (NASA) or Phoibos (ESA) will be launched to answer to fundamental questions on the solar corona heating and solar winds origin. Such solar probes missions that will pass very close to the sun, respectively at 9.5 and 4 solar radii (Rs), need thermal shield to protect the payload and the instrumentation. Carbon/carbon composites can withstand the severe environment encountered during the pass of the sun and have to be studied to understand their physico-chemical behavior in these conditions. This paper presents numerical and experimental results on two carbon-based materials that could be used as thermal protection system for future solar probes.