Numerical Simulations of Spacecraft Charging: Selected Applications
Abstract
The electrical charging of spacecraft due to bombarding charged particles affects their performance and operation. We study this charging using CPIC, a particle-in-cell code specifically designed for studying plasma-material interactions. CPIC is based on multi-block curvilinear meshes, resulting in near-optimal computational performance while maintaining geometric accuracy. It is interfaced to a mesh generator that creates a computational mesh conforming to complex objects like a spacecraft. Relevant plasma parameters can be imported from the SHIELDS framework (currently under development at LANL), which simulates geomagnetic storms and substorms in the Earth's magnetosphere. Selected physics results will be presented, together with an overview of the code. The physics results include spacecraft-charging simulations with geometry representative of the Van Allen Probes spacecraft, focusing on the conditions that can lead to significant spacecraft charging events. Second, results from a recent study that investigates the conditions for which a high-power (>keV) electron beam could be emitted from a magnetospheric spacecraft will be presented. The latter study proposes a spacecraft-charging mitigation strategy based on the plasma contactor technology that might allow beam experiments to operate in the low-density magnetosphere. High-power electron beams could be used for instance to establish magnetic-field-line connectivity between ionosphere and magnetosphere and help solving long-standing questions in ionospheric/magnetospheric physics.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMSM11C2166M
- Keywords:
-
- 7949 Ionospheric storms;
- SPACE WEATHERDE: 7954 Magnetic storms;
- SPACE WEATHERDE: 7974 Solar effects;
- SPACE WEATHERDE: 7984 Space radiation environment;
- SPACE WEATHER