page_title: Kapton
section_title: Spacecraft
hierarchical_section_title: Kapton / Usage / Spacecraft
caption_attribution_description: LDEF (Flight), AO178&#160;: A High-Resolution Study of Ultra-heavy Cosmic-Ray Nuclei, Tray A10 The flight photograph of the Ultra Heavy Cosmic Ray Experiment (UHCRE) was taken while the LDEF was attached to the Orbiter's RMS arm prior to berthing in the Orbiter's cargo bay. The white paint dots on the clamp blocks located at the center of the experiment trays upper and right flanges appear to be in prelaunch condition while the one located at the left end of the trays lower flange appears slightly discolored. Note the dark brown stain on the LDEF structure adjacent to the edge of the black thermal cover. The UHCRE detectors were contained in 16 peripheral LDEF trays with at least one UHCRE tray located on each row of the LDEF except row 3, row 9 and row 12. Each tray contains three cylindrical aluminum pressure vessels with an integral aluminum support structure. Each cylinder is filled with an Eccofoam insert that houses 4 UHCRE detector stacks. Each stack consist of layers of Lexan polycarbonate sheets (approximately 70) interleaved with several thin sheets of lead. Forty-seven of the 48 pressure vessels were pressurized to 1.0 bar of a dry gas mixture (oxygen, nitrogen and helium) and sealed. One of the units was left unsealed in order to investigate the effects of the vacuum environment on the detector materials. Thermal control was accomplished by attaching an aluminized Kapton thermal cover on the tray bottom (the Kapton facing the LDEF interior), placing the aluminum cylinder support structure on thermal isolators and covering the experiment with a thin (5 mil) silvered TEFLON® thermal cover. The silvered TEFLON® cover was supported by an aluminum frame, an integral part of the experiment structure, and held in place by Velcro pads selectively located on the frame and on the back of the cover. The copper colored strip extending over the trays right flange is a copper coated pressure sensitive tape used to provide an electrical ground between the experiments thermal cover and the LDEF structure. The UHCRE thermal covers surface appears to have changed from specular to opaque with many black dots of various sizes that appear to be impact or penetration craters. A large impact crater is clearly visible in the lower right quadrant of the thermal cover. Many of the craters appear to be encircled by a white halo. Numerous circular white discolorations that appear to be impact points are visible on the covers surface. The cover appears to be stretched more than in the prelaunch photograph and the locations of Velcro attach pads are apparent. The ground strap appears to be in place with no visible damage but appears to be a darker color.
context_page_description: Kapton is a polyimide film developed by DuPont in the late 1960s that remains stable across a wide range of temperatures, from −269 to +400 °C. Kapton is used in, among other things, flexible printed circuits and space blankets, which are used on spacecraft, satellites, and various space instruments.
  The chemical name for Kapton K and HN is poly. It is produced from the condensation of pyromellitic dianhydride and 4,4'-oxydiphenylamine. Kapton synthesis is an example of the use of a dianhydride in step polymerization. The intermediate polymer, known as a "poly", is soluble because of strong hydrogen bonds to the polar solvents usually employed in the reaction. The ring closure is carried out at high temperatures.
context_section_description: The descent stage of the Apollo Lunar Module, and the bottom of the ascent stage surrounding the ascent engine, were covered in blankets of aluminized Kapton foil to provide thermal insulation. During the return journey from the Moon, Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong commented that during the launch of the Lunar Module ascent stage, he could see "Kapton and other parts on the LM staging scattering all around the area for great distances." 
  According to a NASA internal report, space shuttle "wires were coated with an insulator known as Kapton that tended to break down over time, causing short circuits and, potentially, fires." The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory has considered Kapton as a good plastic support for solar sails because of its long duration in the space environment.
  NASA's New Horizons spacecraft used Kapton in an innovative "Thermos bottle" insulation design to keep the craft operating between 10–30 °C (50–86 °F) throughout its more than nine-year, 3 billion mile journey to rendezvous with the dwarf planet Pluto on July 14, 2015. The main body is covered in lightweight, gold-colored, multilayered thermal insulation which holds in heat from operating electronics to keep the spacecraft warm. The thermal blanketing–18 layers of Dacron mesh cloth sandwiched between aluminized Mylar and Kapton film–also helped to protect the craft from micrometeorites.
  The sunshield of the James Webb Space Telescope is also made of aluminized Kapton.
  The crew aboard the International Space Station used Kapton tape to temporarily repair a slow leak in a Soyuz spacecraft attached to the Russian segment of the orbital complex in August, 2018.
caption: Aluminized Kapton thermal cover was used on the Ultra Heavy Cosmic Ray Experiment
exif: {}