The characterization of the electromagnetic interaction for a solar sail in the solar wind environment, and identification of viable charging mitigation strategies, is a critical solar sail mission design task, as spacecraft charging has important implications both for science applications and for sail lifetime. To that end, we have performed surface charging calculations of a candidate 150-meter-class solar sail spacecraft for the 0.5 AU solar polar orbit and a 1.0 AU L1 orbit. We construct a model of the spacecraft with candidate materials having appropriate electrical properties using Object Toolkit and perform the spacecraft charging analysis using NASCAP-2k, the NASA/AFRL sponsored spacecraft charging analysis tool. We use nominal and atypical solar wind environments appropriate for the 0.5 AU and 1.0 AU missions to establish current collection of solar wind ions and electrons. In addition, we include a geostationary orbit case to demonstrate a bounding example of extreme (negative) charging of a solar sail spacecraft in the geostationary orbit environment. Results from the charging analysis demonstrate that minimal differential potentials (and resulting threat of electrostatic discharge) occur when the spacecraft is constructed entirely of conducting materials, as expected. Examples with dielectric materials exposed to the space environment exhibit differential potentials ranging from a few volts to extreme potentials in the kilovolt range.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Analysis of Surface Charging for a Candidate Solar Sail Mission Using NASCAP-2K


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    9th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference ; 2005 ; Tsukuba, Japan


    Publication date :

    2004-11-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Analysis Of Surface Charging For A Candidate Solar Sail Mission Using Nascap-2k

    Minow, Joseph / Parker, Linda Neergaard / Davis, Victoria | NTRS | 2005


    Analysis of Surface Charging for a Candidate Solar Sail Mission Using Nascap-2k

    Parker, Linda Neergaard / Minow, Joseph I. / Davis, Victoria et al. | NTRS | 2005


    Analysis of Surface Charging for a Candidate Solar Sail Mission Using NASCAP-2K

    Parker, Linda Neergaard / Minow, Joseph L. / Davis, V. A. et al. | NTRS | 2005


    Analysis of Surface Charging for a Candidate Solar Sail Mission Using Nascap-2k

    L. N. Parker / J. I. Minow / V. Davis et al. | NTIS | 2005


    Analysis of Lunar Surface Charging for a Candidate Spacecraft Using NASCAP-2K

    Parker, Linda / Minow, Joseph / Blackwell, William, Jr. | NTRS | 2007