Abstract The outer region of the Earth’s ionosphere, where the earth’s magnetic field controls the motion of charged particles is called magnetosphere. Generally, the plasma properties in the magnetosphere are described by particle density and energy temperature. The plasma properties in the magnetosphere region are affected significantly by changes in latitude and altitude. The plasma environment in the orbits such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Polar Earth Orbit (PEO) is characterized by high density (1010–1012 m−3) and low energy temperature (0.1–0.3 eV), because of the high energy auroral electron (1–10 keV) injection that leads to spacecraft wake charging effects. A wake area where electrons and ions currents are different will be formed behind a spacecraft in LEO cold, dense plasma environment. The electrons, due to high spacecraft velocity, could accumulate in the wake area of spacecraft to form a high negative potential barrier. The wake effect will develop differential charging on the surface of a spacecraft. The surface potential mainly depends on the collection of the electrons and ion fluxes. Surface charging formed by the wake effect affects the safe operation of the low and middle orbit, especially polar orbit, satellites. In this paper the physical mechanism of wake charging effect is analyzed, Three-dimensional spacecraft computing model based on Particle In Cell (PIC) methods is established by using of Fontheim distribution model of hot electrons and taking account of the effects of the secondary electrons and photoelectrons. The wake charging potential distribution and its variation in time are also discussed.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Numerical Simulations of Spacecraft Wake Charging


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2017-01-01


    Size :

    9 pages





    Type of media :

    Article/Chapter (Book)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




    Spacecraft charging in flowing plasmas; numerical simulations

    Miloch, W.J. / Yaroshenko, V.V. / Vladimirov, S.V. et al. | Tema Archive | 2012



    Transient Charging of Objects in Spacecraft Wakes: Numerical Simulations

    Biasca, R. / Wang, J. / AIAA | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994



    Electric Propulsion Plasma Simulations and Influence on Spacecraft Charging

    Tajmar, M. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2001