Spacecraft dielectric charging, sometimes called deep-dielectric-charging or bulk-charging, occurs when high energy electrons imbed themselves in dielectric materials, and the charge density builds up, sometimes to breakdown levels. Charges usually bleed off slowly due to material conductivity. At very low (cryogenic) temperatures, the dielectric conductivity decreases until charges may remain and build up over weeks, months, or years. In those cases, the guidelines given in NASA and industry documents for when dielectric charging may become important are misleading. Arcing tests of spacecraft cables at liquid nitrogen temperatures and very low flux levels have been done at NASA MSFC for the JWST Project. In this paper, we describe the results of those tests and analyze their important implications for cryogenic spacecraft cable design and construction.


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    Title :

    Effects of Low Temperature on Charging of Spacecraft Dielectrics


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit ; 2008 ; Reno, NV, United States


    Publication date :

    2008-01-07


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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