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The erosion behavior of Kapton when exposed to atomic oxygen (AO) environment in the ground-based simulation facility was studied. The chemical and physical changes of sample surfaces after exposed to AO fluxes were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results indicated that Kapton underwent dramatically degradation, including much mass loss and change of surface morphologies; vacuum outgassing effect of Kapton was the key factor for initial mass loss in the course of atomic oxygen beam exposures. XPS analysis showed that the carbonyl group in Kapton reacted with oxygen atoms to generate CO2, then CO2 desorbed from Kapton surface. In addition, PMDA in the polyimide structure degraded due to the reaction with atomic oxygen of 5 eV.