BRAND-NEW © European Space Agency
The launch of Solar Orbiter occurred on 10 February 2020 on an Atlas V 411 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Solar Orbiter Reaches for The Sun Protected by SolarBlack Skin The Airbus built Sun explorer spacecraft Solar Orbiter was successfully
destructive discharge to the craft.
launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on 10th February 2020.
SolarBlack is a CoBlast Skin of black calcium phosphate, which has been applied to the outermost titanium sheet of Solar Orbiter’s multi-layered
Solar Orbiter spacecraft will study the Sun at unprecedented close
heatshield. It has been deployed via ENBIO’s CoBlast process, which
proximity – approximately 42 million kilometers, which is a quarter the
replaces, in one process step, a metal’s natural oxide surface layer
distance from the star to Earth. Such an extreme temperature and
with a desired functional Skin – in this case SolarBlack. What makes
radiation environment, required the Agency to seek and qualify suitable
CoBlast unique is the direct bond produced between the desired Skin
next-generation thermal protection systems for the craft’s 3.1m x 2.4m
and the underlying metal, without a troublesome oxide layer, providing
main heatshield.
the durability and adhesion required for skin integrity under such
To provide such a system, ENBIO has been collaborating with ESA and
extreme conditions. CoBlast is also an environmentally friendly process,
Airbus Defence & Space since 2011, to develop a novel protective
requiring no chemical, vacuum or thermal inputs. SolarBlack has been
CoBlast Skin, called SolarBlack. It is critical that the Skin maintains its
qualified to meet the demands of this mission and is being specified on
thermo-optical properties, despite years of exposure to extreme
an increasingly wide variety of additional applications including sensor
infra-red and ultraviolet radiation, whilst not shedding material or
internals and heatshields.
outgassing vapour, which would risk contaminating Solar Orbiter’s highly sensitive instruments. Additionally, the Skin needs to be conductive to avoid the build-up of static charge which might threaten a disruptive or
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N.33 - 2020 APRIL - ipcm® Protective Coatings
For further information: http://enbio.eu/coblast/