Spacecraft charging model : two Maxwellian approximation

Author / Creator

Tsipouras, P

Available as

Online

Summary

The ambient plasma environment at geosynchronous orbit is assumed to be represented by a two-component Maxwell-Boltzmann particle distribution. Given this, the equations for ambient electron and io...

The ambient plasma environment at geosynchronous orbit is assumed to be represented by a two-component Maxwell-Boltzmann particle distribution. Given this, the equations for ambient electron and ion currents to the spacecraft are easily integrated. Likewise, the secondary and backscattered currents can be expressed as integrals. The potential at which the currents balance gives the potential between the spacecraft and ambient plasma. The model is compared with actual data from ATS-5 and is found to agree within plus or minus 1, 200 V over a range of 0 to minus 10,000 V. The model is readily applicable to the simple environmental model of Garrett and DeForest (1979) and can be calibrated to any given satellite. Simple algorithmic expressions are also developed for the backscattered and secondary currents as a function of temperature and potential which promise a significant decrease in computer time without a significant loss in accuracy.

Show More