Modelling of Environmentally Induced Discharges in Geosynchronous Satellites

The NASCAP computer code is used to compute the charging the discharging characteristics of a typical communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit. For the case of a severe substorm, satellite surface differential charging in sunlight is found to be substantially less than that required to produ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on nuclear science 1980-01, Vol.27 (6), p.1792-1796
Main Author: Stevens, N. John
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analytical models
Artificial satellites
Character generation
Computational modeling
Electrons
Predictive models
Surface charging
Surface discharges
Trajectory
Transient analysis
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Summary:The NASCAP computer code is used to compute the charging the discharging characteristics of a typical communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit. For the case of a severe substorm, satellite surface differential charging in sunlight is found to be substantially less than that required to produce discharges in ground simulation studies. A discharge process is postulated involving discharges triggered at edges (or imperfection) followed by discharges to space. The characteristics of such discharges are parametrically varied to evaluate the possible effects on the satellite. It has been found that discharge characteristics inferred from satellite monitors could be caused by predicted space discharges, that single cell discharges to space can reduce surface potential over entire satellite, and that low-density electron trajectory computations indicate that discharge generated electrons may not return to the satellite by long trajectories. Current transients predicted do not agree with the available ground simulation results indicating that additional work must be done both analytically and experimentally to understand and fully explain these discrepancies.
ISSN:0018-9499
1558-1578
DOI:10.1109/TNS.1980.4331108