Initial results from ground-based testing of an atomic oxygen sensor designed for use in earth orbit

Abstract

Many sensors have been applied to the problem of measuring neutral atomic oxygen fluxes in low Earth orbit. The techniques used to date tend to suffer from several key disadvantages, variously: large mass and power budgets, large size, high cost, the ability to make only one measurement and poor time resolution. In this article preliminary results from ground-based testing of a novel atomic oxygen sensor based on a semiconducting metal oxide are reported. Such sensors are simple and relatively cheap while also requiring small power and mass budgets and, most importantly, are reusable. The sensors have been used in laboratory experiments to investigate the axial variation of atomic oxygen flux in a pulsed laser atomic oxygen source; the results compare well with readings taken with a carbon-coated quartz crystal microbalance. A small instrument based on these sensors has been designed and built for application on the UK’s STRV-1c microsatellite.