Gas-Surface Interactions in Low-Earth Orbit

When the space age began, some aerodynamicists expected that the surfaces of spacecraft would be cleaned by desorption in the high vacuum of space; while others, familiar with experiments on engineering surfaces, believed that satellite surfaces would be contaminated. During subsequent decades, satellite evidence has accumulated, showing that surfaces in low-Earth orbit are contaminated by adsorbed atomic oxygen and its reaction products. These contaminants cause accommodation coefficients to be high, and the angular distribution of reemitted molecules to be nearly diffuse. These surface conditions must be considered in calculating satellite drag coefficients in free-molecular flow. We describe the experimental and theoretical developments which have led to these conclusions.