The role of space plasma simulation chambers in spacecraft design and testing
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Abstract:
Space plasma simulation chambers have been used, since the earliest days of the space program, to investigate the effects of the space plasma environment on spacecraft systems. A space plasma simulation chamber is a vacuum chamber capable of producing and retaining a high vacuum (10/sup -6/ to 10/sup -5/ torr) during operation of a plasma source capable of producing a plasma of up to 10/sup 6/ electrons and ions per cubic centimeter. Usually, the chamber must be large enough that plasma effects on the spacecraft systems or subsystems to be tested will not be influenced directly by the plasma source or the chamber walls. This means that the chamber must be several times the size of the plasma sheath surrounding the sample even when it is biased to high voltages relative to the surrounding plasma.Keywords:
Vacuum chamber
Spacecraft charging
Astrophysical plasma
Torr
Plasma window
Space environment
When spacecrafts come back into the atmosphere, the heat caused by the friction of the high-speed spacecrafts and atmosphere will induce the plasma. The plasma will interrupt the communication between spacecraft and ground. Aiming at the problem, in this paper, the plasma was produced by DC glow discharge. We achieved the plasma with the same concentrations as black barrier plasma and tested the free transmission of terahertz wave in plasma.
Spacecraft charging
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Scientific satellites immersed in various space environments are surrounded by plasmas which they are supposed to analyze, using instruments such as particle detectors. The presence of these structures within the plasma leads to a variety of complex and inter-correlated spacecraft/plasma interactions. The space plasma modifies the satellite which in return disturbs its close environment. On-board instruments measure a perturbed plasma and it is difficult to distinguish the natural signal from biased measurements. The objective of this thesis is to study and improve the understanding of the spacecraft/plasma interactions, through numerical simulations performed with the SPIS software, on the low energy domain (<100 eV), as those particles are the most perturbed. The aim is to understand plasma measurements on realistic cases, by establishing a methodology of simulating those issues. I simulate interactions between the Solar Probe Plus, Solar Orbiter, Cluster missions and their respective environments, including the associated measurements. The analysis of the obtained results allows the understanding of the various cases and the validation of the methodology developed during this work.
Spacecraft charging
Orbiter
Astrophysical plasma
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Plasma measurements by electrostatic probes are influenced by the spacecraft-plasma interaction, including the photoelectrons emitted by the spacecraft. Such effects get particularly important in tenuous plasmas with large Debye lengths. We have used the particle-in-cell code package SPIS to study the close environment of the Rosetta spacecraft, and the impact of the spacecraft-plasma interaction on the electrostatic potential at the position of the Langmuir probes onboard. The simulations show that in the solar wind, photoemission has a bigger impact than wake formation. Spacecraft potential estimates based on Langmuir probe data in the solar wind need to be compensated for these effects when the spacecraft attitude varies. The SPIS simulations are validated by comparison to an independent code.
Spacecraft charging
Langmuir Probe
Astrophysical plasma
Particle-in-cell
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Space development has been rapidly increasing, and a strong demand should arise regarding the understanding of the spacecraft-plasma interactions, which is one of the very important issues associated with the human activities in space. To evaluate the spacecraft-plasma interactions including plasma kinetics, transient process, and electromagnetic field variation, the authors have started to develop a numerical plasma chamber called Geospace Environment Simulator (GES) by making the most use of the conventional full particle-in-cell plasma simulations. For the development of a proto model of GES, the authors have used the Earth Simulator, which is one of the fastest supercomputers in the world. GES can be regarded as a numerical chamber in which space experiments can be virtually performed and temporal and spatial evolutions of spacecraft-plasma interactions can be analyzed. In this paper, the authors have briefly introduced GES in terms of its concept, modeling, and research targets. As one of the research topics of GES, the authors have investigated the impedance variation of electric field antenna onboard scientific satellites in the photoelectron environment in space. From the preliminary simulation results, the large change of reactance of the antenna impedance below the characteristic frequency corresponding to the local plasma frequency determined by the photoelectron density could be confirmed
Spacecraft charging
Transient (computer programming)
Space physics
Astrophysical plasma
Space environment
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Spacecraft charging
Plasmasphere
Astrophysical plasma
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Electrostatic charging of satellites in space is a function of the spacecraft materials and various sources of charged particles. This paper explains how Langmuir probes as part of Plasma Wave Complex PWC aboard the Russian segment of the International Space Station, will monitor the surface charging of the station.
International Space Station
Spacecraft charging
Astrophysical plasma
Langmuir Probe
Space environment
space technology
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Data from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, in particular, the spacecraft potential measured with and without the ion beams of the active spacecraft potential control (ASPOC) instruments, plasma electron moments, and the electric field, have been employed for an improved determination of plasma density based on spacecraft potential. The known technique to derive plasma density from spacecraft potential sees the spacecraft behaving as a plasma probe which adopts a potential at which the ambient plasma current and one of photoelectrons produced at the surface and leaving into space are in equilibrium. Thus, the potential is a function of the plasma current, and plasma density can be determined using measurements or assumptions on plasma temperature. This method is especially useful during periods when the plasma instruments are not in operation or when spacecraft potential data have significantly higher time resolution than particle detectors. However, the applicable current-voltage characteristic of the spacecraft has to be known with high accuracy, particularly when the potential is actively controlled and shows only minor residual variations. This paper demonstrates recent refinements of the density determination coming from: 1) the reduction of artifacts in the potential data due to the geometry of the spinning spacecraft and due to effects of the ambient electric field on the potential measurements and 2) a calibration of the plasma current to the spacecraft surfaces which is only possible by comparison with the variable currents from the ion beams of ASPOC. The results are discussed, and plasma densities determined by this method are shown in comparison with measurements by the Fast Plasma Instrument (FPI) for some intervals of the MMS mission.
Spacecraft charging
Astrophysical plasma
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The differential charging of a nonconducting spacecraft is modeled numerically by following charged‐particle trajectories in a self‐consistent space‐charge‐less sheath. In the presence of a plasma flow but independent of any photoelectric or secondary emission a potential difference between the front and wake surfaces of the spacecraft is generated, resulting in an asymmetric sheath and in the creation of a potential barrier for electrons. The potential difference can amount to volts in the ionosphere and kilovolts in the solar wind. As in the more familiar case of photoelectric charging, the asymmetric sheath and potential barrier produced by the plasma flow can lead to erroneous interpretations of experiments measuring space electric fields and low‐energy particle spectra.
Spacecraft charging
Debye sheath
Photoelectric effect
Astrophysical plasma
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Spacecraft charging
Astrophysical plasma
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Space plasma simulation chambers have been used, since the earliest days of the space program, to investigate the effects of the space plasma environment on spacecraft systems. A space plasma simulation chamber is a vacuum chamber capable of producing and retaining a high vacuum (10/sup -6/ to 10/sup -5/ torr) during operation of a plasma source capable of producing a plasma of up to 10/sup 6/ electrons and ions per cubic centimeter. Usually, the chamber must be large enough that plasma effects on the spacecraft systems or subsystems to be tested will not be influenced directly by the plasma source or the chamber walls. This means that the chamber must be several times the size of the plasma sheath surrounding the sample even when it is biased to high voltages relative to the surrounding plasma.
Vacuum chamber
Spacecraft charging
Astrophysical plasma
Torr
Plasma window
Space environment
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Citations (8)