LEO effects on conventional and unconventional solar cell cover materials

In 1984, the LDEF (Long Duration Exposure Facility) was placed in LEO (low earth orbit) for a mission planned to last approximately one year. The effects of the LDEF mission environment (micrometeorite/debris impacts, atomic, atomic oxygen, UV, and particulate radiation) on the samples are described. The relative importance of these interactions is highly dependent on orbital altitude. There is no evidence that the impacts with the test samples (including solar cells) caused any electrical degradation. Evidence from a number of LDEF experiments suggests that the majority of the impacts observed on this experiment were of space debris, rather than micrometeorite origin.