Evaluation of Space Enviroment
and Effects on Materials
(ESEM) Archive System

The Evaluation of Space Environment and Effects on Materials (ESEM) Project, an element of the NASA Space Environments and Effects (SEE) Program, is a co-operative effort between the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). The ESEM experiments are focused on cosmic dust collection, studies of atomic oxygen effects on materials and space contamination. This site addresses the NASA Cosmic Dust Collection experiment (CDCE) and the NASA Atomic Oxygen Experiment (AOE) that were exposed to the space environment on space shuttle mission STS-85 in August, 1997.

The NASA/LaRC Cosmic Dust Collection Experiment utilized aerogel to capture debris during the STS-85 shuttle mission. The CDCE was exposed to space environment during the entire STS-85 mission and was oriented along the shuttle orbital velocity vector for 40 hours. The Cosmic Dust Collection Experiment was retrieved after completion of the STS-85 mission for data analysis.

The LaRC/NASA Atomic Oxygen Experiment consisted of materials provided by the The Boeing Company, the College of William & Mary and NASA/Langley Research Center. The material samples were exposed to the space environment during the entire STS-85 mission and were oriented along the shuttle orbital velocity vector for 40 hours. The Atomic Oxygen Experiment was retrieved after completion of the STS-85 mission for data analysis.

The LaRC/NASA ESEM Project Manager is Junilla I. Applin. LaRC/NASA ESEM Chief Scientist is Dr. William H. Kinard.