EuroMaterial Ageing (EMA) is a platform which will be installed outside ISS, on Columbus modulus to expose materials and environment sensors to space environment.

 Low Earth orbit (LEO) space environment is very harsh for materials used in satellites. Before using in-flight, materials have to be validated on ground but the on-ground facilities cannot combine simultaneously all the space environment parameters so synergetic effects are not seen. Therefore, EMA is a significant opportunity to expose materials samples in real space conditions to improve our understanding of their degradations and to collect environmental datas thanks to environmental sensors to refine models and analysis.

 EMA – a collaboration between CNES, CNRS and ESA- is made of two experiments :

- SESAME for studying materials behavior in space environment and measuring in-orbit parameters such as Atomic oxygen flux, contamination, radiation, micrometeorids and debris population for a better knowledge of the LEO space environment and its effects.

- IR-coaster (principal investigator of IRcoaster is at LISA/CNRS ) for characterizing the behavior of organic compounds when exposed to solar UV radiation by in situ infrared spectroscopy.

The synergy between the two experiments will be highlighted in this presentation as well as the assembly, integration and testing performed this year.

EMA flight is about to be launched on August 2024 and will be exposed between 12 and 18 months outside ISS.

A second paper will describe CNES samples.