Weathering on satellites in orbit

[Nate]

Does anyone have any insight as to what sort of wear/weathering occurs on various satellites afters years of orbiting the earth or travelling through the solar system?

 

ISS basically looks brand-new browsing through random NASA exterior shots - is there much else beyond sun exposure and micro-meteorites?

 

I'm trying to imagine what the two Voyagers look like right now after decades of travel on their way out of the solar system...definitely not Star Wars level, but it can't be NASA clean-room either...

 

TIA!

[habu2]

Like this?

 

Sorry couldn’t resist…. 😱
 

Maybe look at some LDEF photos?

 

Edited April 3, 2022 by habu2

[K2Pete]

I did a model of the LDEF's release into orbit and did some reading about it.

 

 

It stayed in orbit for almost 6 years. White paint was blistered and discoloured.

If you're doing V'ger the thrusters would have some exhaust stains and if the spacecraft has any Kapton foil, it may be brittle and torn, after all those various radiation sources.

 

But IMO, from a distance Voyager probably looks pretty good. Unless it collided with something ... bent antenna?

For you, this is gonna be a pretty good thought experiment.

 

I hope you'll show us your results whenever you build it!  ;- D

 

Pete

[Nate]

Thanks guys, that's super helpful! I hadn't thought about the thrusters and wasn't familiar with the LDEF project - off to the Google to learn some more!

 

After just seeing Apollo 9 at the San Diego Air and Space Museum on vacation today, it's hard to accept that after more than 14 billion miles it basically looks the same as it did in 1977, but it's probably true!  I guess no atmosphere, no nearby sun, no significant thermal cycling, no servicing, and no re-entries makes for pretty limited wear and tear on your way out of the solar system...

Edited April 4, 2022 by Nate
Updated to thank Pete AND Habu2 🙂

[southwestforests]

This may be useful, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/20/archives/conrad-brings-in-skylab-sun-film-astronauts-repair-battery-in-final.html

"CONRAD BRINGS IN SKYLAB SUN FILM
By John Noble Wilford Special to The New York Times
June 20, 1973

 

HOUSTON, June 19—Two of the Skylab 1 astronauts went outside their space station to day to retrieve exposed film from solar telescopes and, in a return engagement as orbital repairmen, to hammer a battery back into action.

In their last planned orbital outing before they return to earth Friday, the astronauts also dusted off a telescope lens and inspected paint on the Apollo service module that as expected has blistered in the intense sunlight and is peeling away in a few places.

...

While outside, Captain Conrad looked back at the Apollo spaceship and noticed the effects of its 26 days in space, remarking:

“There's white paint blisters pretty well all over the service module, to the point where some of it flaked off.”

..."

[southwestforests]

See also; the silver/aluminum paint blistering in this Apollo 17 photo, https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/spacesuits/historygallery/ap-dec72a.html

[Nate]

Thanks! Other than the blisters, the rest of it still looks pretty shiny and new after all that time....now if only someone could get a telescope on Starman to figure out how well Tesla's paint holds up....

[Kodos the Executioner]

Peeling/blistering of paint, especially white, is pretty common.

 

If your subject spacecraft has kapton/MLI - style insulation, some peeling/fraying and discoloration is to be expected as well.

 

A few whacks and craters from micro-meteor impacts might also add a nice touch of realism... provided they weren't TOO big.

 

 

A good source for pictures and ideas would be the last few years that the Mir station was visited by US space shuttles. Some good images where you can see the differences between the older and newer modules... especially the ones that did NOT get run into by out-of-control Progress capsules!

 

Cheers,

 

Kodos//

[habu2]

Weathering for earth orbit vs interplanetary would be quite different IMO. Blistering from solar radiation would be much less for something like Voyager, solar radiation would inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the sun. Radiation at 10 AU would be 1/100 of that in earth orbit. 

 

Edit: I just checked, and Voyager 1 is currently about 14.5 billion miles from the sun - that's ~156 AU which translates to about 1/24300 (0.004%) the amount of solar radiation in earth orbit.

 

.

Edited July 8, 2022 by habu2
geek math