The space environment has a complex and dynamic structure, affecting all materials and systems. It includes neutral species, charged particles, plasmas, electric and magnetic fields, solar and galactic radiation, meteoroids, and space debris, and each of them can cause profound damages to a spacecraft, deteriorating its performance and lifetime. For Earth-orbiting spacecrafts, the most relevant hazards are charging and radiation. In particular, charging effects can induce electrostatic discharge (ESD), which poses risks to sensitive electronic and structural components, causing localized heating and material loss.

As the charging effect depends on the electric charge that accumulates on a surface, the replacement of usual non-conductive coatings and materials by conductive or electrostatically dissipative materials would reduce spacecraft design cycles and reduce the risk of anomalies. In addition, as the charging behaviour of different space materials can vary significantly, it is of great importance to deeply characterise the different involved materials for a good and realistic prediction of their charging levels for space applications.

In this context, the present work focuses on (i) the identification of existing innovative materials potentially able to address charge mitigation, (ii) the development of new conductive materials based on nanotechnology and (iii) an exhaustive characterisation for preserving critical properties in harsh space environments.

These materials must fulfil strict requirements in terms of electrical conductivity, transparency (for coverglasses) and thermal control (for black and white coatings), among others. Moreover, for a complete characterisation, an ambitious test plan has been carried out, including measurements of Secondary Electron Yield (SEY) and solar Vacuum Ultraviolet Photoelectron Yield (PEY), ballistic transmittance, solar reflectance and absorptance, refractive index, surface and bulk conductivity, adhesion, Young modulus and hardness, outgassing and radiation exposure. In addition, charging assessment of solutions in typical scenarios has been modelled using SPENVIS and SPIS software.