Direct sunlight exposure in space?

[cjwutzke]

I am working with a group that will send a CubeSat to space by 2020. We hope to take images from space with the uCam-iii and downlink them to earth.

In a worst-case scenario where the camera was pointed directly at the sun from low earth orbit (say, 254 miles) for many minutes, would it be damaged?

And, if anything were to break what would break first? Do you guys have any ideas on how to stress test the camera to see if it would survive these conditions?

Sorry this is a really unique question... I'm hoping for guidance on how to continue my research deeper into this. Thanks!

[frsantiago]

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

UCAM-III is built for operating ambient temperature of -30 to +85 degrees Celsius as stated on the datasheet. If beyond that temperature range maybe the uCAM-III will not function normally. Components of this products is not for space application and we do not have any data of stress test that we can provide for these condition..

Hope this helps.

BR,
Ferdinand

[ESPsupport]

But having said that we know they have been into space before, but we don't know what precautions the owners took to avoid the sort of issue you mention.