Relevance of an RF plasma source to satellite material testing in VLEO conditions

Relevance of an RF plasma source to satellite material testing in VLEO conditions | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Relevance of an RF plasma source to satellite material testing in VLEO conditions Pedro D. C. Jorge, Mikel Spillemaekers, Damien le Quang, Priya Laha, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6565928/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Satellites operating in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) are exposed to a harsh environment composed of atomic oxygen and molecular nitrogen which can significantly degrade spacecraft materials. Novel atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) systems can introduce additional material erosion through the impingement of reactive atmospheric ions from the thruster plume backflow. This study presents ground-based experiments evaluating the erosion behavior of Kapton HN exposed to an oxygen-argon plasma beam with ion energies (~5 eV) representative of the VLEO environment. Experiments were conducted using the DRAG-ON facility equipped with an RF plasma source. Ion energy and flux were characterized with electrostatic probes, while erosion yields and the morphology of exposed samples were evaluated using stylus profilometry, confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Our results reveal that Kapton HN erosion yields exposed to plasma are an order of magnitude higher than those reported for neutral atomic oxygen, with argon contributing minimally to surface degradation. Erosion exhibited a linear dependence on ion fluence and was strongly influenced by surface charging, as evidenced by non-uniform erosion patterns observed on Kapton and the uniform erosion observed on conductive graphite samples. These findings suggest that plasma-driven chemical reactions and charging effects significantly enhance material degradation, providing a conservative estimate of material aging compared to the one obtained in neutral conditions. Additionally, the results highlight the utility of this plasma source for reproducing plume contamination fluences in manageable test durations. Very low Earth orbit Material erosion Atomic oxygen Plasma Air-breathing electric propulsion Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 06 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 05 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 13 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 13 May, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 06 May, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 04 May, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 03 May, 2025 First submitted to journal 30 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6565928","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":452577475,"identity":"64262e06-cc1a-426b-a074-d6d2647f1432","order_by":0,"name":"Pedro D. C. 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Novel atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) systems can introduce additional material erosion through the impingement of reactive atmospheric ions from the thruster plume backflow. This study presents ground-based experiments evaluating the erosion behavior of Kapton HN exposed to an oxygen-argon plasma beam with ion energies (~5 eV) representative of the VLEO environment. Experiments were conducted using the DRAG-ON facility equipped with an RF plasma source. Ion energy and flux were characterized with electrostatic probes, while erosion yields and the morphology of exposed samples were evaluated using stylus profilometry, confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Our results reveal that Kapton HN erosion yields exposed to plasma are an order of magnitude higher than those reported for neutral atomic oxygen, with argon contributing minimally to surface degradation. Erosion exhibited a linear dependence on ion fluence and was strongly influenced by surface charging, as evidenced by non-uniform erosion patterns observed on Kapton and the uniform erosion observed on conductive graphite samples. These findings suggest that plasma-driven chemical reactions and charging effects significantly enhance material degradation, providing a conservative estimate of material aging compared to the one obtained in neutral conditions. 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