This post will act as a repository of data collected at USC Department of Astronautics small vacuum chamber to be used for molecular outgassing code validation. Data coming soon. Slides from the talk are available here Figure 1. Small vacuum facility at USC Astronautics plasma lab Figure 2. Configuration with QCM having direct line of […] (Aug 15 2022)
(TL/DR: This page contains an interactive Javascript sandbox for testing surface adhesion. You can play with it below or in a separate window by clicking here) One of the projects I am currently working on involves modeling the gas-surface or plasma-surface interface. This has dual applications. First, in the world of contamination control, it is […] (Sep 8 2020)
In this blog post we develop a multi-threaded C++ program for computing molecular transmission through a cylinder of a varying length. The results are compared against tabulated data of Clausing. (Mar 15 2016)
Particulates launched from an orbiting object may intersect the satellite on a future orbit and cause contamination of surfaces beyond the line of sight of the originating surface. This post describes a simply Python code that was developed to model this behavior with and without solar radiation pressure. (Jan 27 2016)
Summary of CTSP molecular contamination modeling validation effort to date (Dec 28 2015)
Interactive on-line analyzer of Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) log files. The analyzer can visualize multiple channels, automatically compute smoothed delta-deltas, and lets you interactively analyze TGA data. (Nov 9 2015)
New detailed model was developed for the space-surface interface. Instead of using sticking coefficients, the model uses residence time to determine if a molecule "sticks". Adsorbed molecules are added to a surface layer and objects can also contain trapped gases diffusing to the surface. (Jun 30 2015)
In this article we look at how we could use surface flux collected by a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to compute the volumetric partial pressure of condensable materials such as magnesium vapor. (Jul 28 2013)