Recently, the debate on what is the best daytime Geosynchronous Earth Orbit spacecraft charging index has been reopened. In this paper, the conclusions of one of the recent papers on the subject are verified by comparing Nascap-2k results with charging and fluxes measured on the Spacecraft Charging at the High Altitudes, Intelsat, Defense Satellite Communications System, and Los Alamos National Laboratory Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellites. In addition, a refined measure of charging is presented as the total thermal electron flux above a certain minimum energy that is well above the second crossover point in secondary electron emission. The use of this type of index is justified by correlations between Nascap-2k simulation results and total fluxes above a range of energies. The best minimum energy to use is determined for spacecraft of different design and surface materials. Finally, the optimum Geosynchronous Earth Orbit daytime spacecraft charging index is obtained, and its use for predicting and resolving spacecraft anomalies in real time is justified.
Best Geosynchronous Earth Orbit Daytime Spacecraft Charging Index
Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets ; 52 , 2 ; 526-543
2014-11-07
18 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Best Geosynchronous Earth Orbit Daytime Spacecraft Charging Index
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