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Analysis of Surface Charging for a Candidate Solar Sail Mission Using Nascap-2kThe characterization of the electromagnetic interaction for a solar sail in the solar wind environment and identification of viable charging mitigation strategies are critical solar sail mission design task. Spacecraft charging has important implications both for science applications and for lifetime and reliability issues of sail propulsion systems. To that end, surface charging calculations of a candidate 150-meter-class solar sail spacecraft for the 0.5 AU solar polar and 1.0 AU L1 solar wind environments are performed. A model of the spacecraft with candidate materials having appropriate electrical properties is constructed using Object Toolkit. The spacecraft charging analysis is performed using Nascap-2k, the NASA/AFRL sponsored spacecraft charging analysis tool. Nominal and atypical solar wind environments appropriate for the 0.5 AU and 1.0 AU missions are used to establish current collection of solar wind ions and electrons. Finally, a geostationary orbit environment case is included to demonstrate a bounding example of extreme (negative) charging of a solar sail spacecraft. Results from the charging analyses demonstrate that minimal differential potentials (and resulting threat of electrostatic discharge) occur when the spacecraft is constructed entirely of conducting materials, as anticipated from standard guidelines for mitigation of spacecraft charging issues. Examples with dielectric materials exposed to the space environment exhibit differential potentials ranging from a few volts to extreme potentials in the kilovolt range.
Document ID
20050181986
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Parker, Linda Neergaard (Jacobs Sverdrup Technology, Inc. Huntsville, AL, United States)
Minow, Joseph I. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Davis, Victoria (Science Applications International Corp. San Diego, CA, United States)
Mandell, Myron (Science Applications International Corp. San Diego, CA, United States)
Gardner, Barbara (Science Applications International Corp. San Diego, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
April 20, 2005
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Meeting Information
Meeting: Solar Sail Technology and Applications Conference
Location: Greenbelt, MD
Country: United States
Start Date: April 4, 2005
End Date: April 8, 2005
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS8-00187
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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