Ejecta production mechanisms on painted surfaces

Painted surfaces are frequently used on space vehicles, whether on satellites or on rocket bodies. A bibliographic research allows us to evaluate the painted surfaces in orbit at about 63000 m². The observation of impacts on painted surfaces of the LDEF satellite shows that the total ejected mass is large. However, no description of hypervelocity impact tests on painted surfaces has been found in the literature. An ejecta model has been previously developed at ONERA/DESP. This model is applicable for hypervelocity impacts on homogeneous ductile targets, homogeneous brittle targets and solar cells. The objective of this work is to extend this model to the case of painted surfaces. Consequently, impact pictures on painted surfaces of LDEF were analysed and some laboratory impact tests were performed at the Ernst-Mach-Institut, in Freiburg, under an ESA contract.