Abstract
During the past 30 years of development of Space optical instrumentation for such missions as METEOSAT, SPOT, HIPPARCOS and SILEX with ESA and CNES, Matra Marcon Space (MMS) has conducted extensive studies on the behavior of optical materials under irradiation such as quantifying transmission losses in optical glasses and measuring the dimensional stability of Zerodur as a substrate for mirror applications. Thanks to this background experience, MMS, in cooperation with SCK-CEN, is conducting a study (under ESA sponsorship) to define the approach for the gathering of a comprehensive data base to quantify these effects through the use of linear sensitivity coefficients (so-called `Dose Coefficients'). This follows recent investigations which have shown that the space radiation environment can affect not only transmission but also other characteristics of refractive optical materials in both classical and Cerium doped glasses. A number of selected examples from specific MMS studies will first be shown. Then, the actual approach being taken to this problem, on the basis of already obtained results from preliminary experiments performed by ESTEC, will be presented.
