Radiation effects are well known to cause significant degradation in polymer materials. Low earth orbit (LEO) radiation exposures cause ionization potentials that can undermine mechanical properties of polymers. In particular, small scale degradations can undermine carbon / polymer composite mirrors used in imaging applications. A high-specularity surface finish is required for optical mirrors and that surface is vulnerable to radiation ionization degradation thereby undermining the optical performance of the mirror in that environment. Experiments involving radiation ionization and its effects on replicated carbon/polymer composite mirrors will be discussed; 6 replicated carbon/polymer composite mirrors on the Materials on the International Space Station Experiment, MISSE 7A and MISSE 8, the replicated RICH mirror the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) and testing on the RICH 1 replicated mirrors in the LHCb experiment. Results are favorable for optically coated composite mirrors in terms of mirror figure, reflectivity and surface finish, but not so on uncoated polymer mirrors.

The Naval Research Laboratory and Composite Mirror Applications (CMA) have been working together for several years on the development of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) optics and telescopes. We have documented the potential advantages of this technology in several other publications, including structural, thermal and weight advantages over traditional steel and glass optical systems. In this paper we present results of a battery of optical tests done on various CFRP replicated mirrors. Our goal is to demonstrate not only the optical quality of such mirrors but also their reproducibility and stability. We show test results on a sample of four mirrors. We performed extensive optical tests and also stability and repeatability tests. These tests are geared towards proving the use of this technology for a variety of optical applications including use in our CFRP telescopes.