Thermal Radiative Properties of the Microwave Anisotropy Probe Telescope

The twin composite structure telescopes aboard the Microwave Anisotropy Probe were selectivity roughened to reduce focused solar radiance. They were then overcoated with evaporated A1 + reactively evaporated silicon oxide films whose respective thicknesses were sufficient to achieve the high reflectance of bulk aluminum at the microwave operating frequencies; high emittance in the thermal emittance region; and moderately low solar absorptance for a resultant (alpha) /(epsilon) < 0.9. This report will discuss the experimental techniques used to prepare the telescope reflector surfaces and to evaluate their resultant properties.