Anomalous behavior of synchronous orbit satellites manifested by overall degradation of system performance and reduced operating life is associated with electrical discharge resulting from differential charging of the spacecraft surface by fluxes of high energy electrons. During a laboratory simulation silver-backed Teflon samples have been irradiated by electron beams having energies in the range 16-26 keV. Charged particles emitted from the resultant electrical discharges have been measured with a biased Faraday cup and retarding potential analyser. From the surface potentials thereby derived it is concluded that the charged particle release occurs at localized surface sites having potentials well below the predischarge surface potential. The significance of this result can be understood in terms of assessing various discharge models which have been proposed in the literature.
Measurements of particle emission from discharge sites in teflon irradiated by high energy electron beams
Messung von Teilchenemission bei Entladungen in Teflon bestrahlt mit hochenergetischen Elektronenstrahl
IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science ; NS-26 , 6 ; 5141-5145
1979
5 Seiten, 9 Bilder, 9 Quellen
Article (Journal)
English
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