Thermal radiative properties of carbon materials under high temperature and vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) radiation for the heat shield of the Solar Probe Plus mission

The Solar Probe Plus (SP+) mission will approach the Sun as close as 9.5 solar radii in order to understand the origin of the solar corona heating and the acceleration of the solar wind. Submitted to such extreme environmental conditions, a thermal protection system is considered to protect the payload of the SP+ spacecraft. Carbon-based materials are good candidate to fulfill this role and critical point remains the equilibrium temperature reached at perihelion by the heat shield. In this paper, experimental results obtained for the solar absorptivity α, the total hemispherical emissivity ɛ and its ratio α/ɛ, conditioning the equilibrium temperature of the thermal protection system, are presented for different kinds of carbon materials heated at high temperatures with or without vacuum-UV (100 < λ < 200 nm) radiation. The synergistic effect of ion bombardment is also presented for one kind of material.

► We measure the evolution of the thermal radiative properties of carbon materials at high temperature and also with adding VUV radiation. ► VUV radiation modifies the microstructure and acts on the thermal radiative properties. ► A mean value of the α/ɛ ratio of 1.14 can be retained for C/C composites for the Solar Probe Plus mission.