Surface charging simulation of LEO spacecraft

The subject of this paper is to investigate surface charging simulation of LEO spacecraft. SPIS was applied to simulate the surface charging of spacecraft in LEO plasma environment. A simple satellite model was made in SPIS with several material assigned as satellite surfaces. This was done with the assumption that solar irradiation is far less than the environment plasma and secondary electron was considered. Result of the numerical simulation has been laid out and compared with the charging theory and in situ observation. It is concluded that charging result can reflect the difference of distinct material, especially the difference between conducting material and non-conducting material. Equilibrium potential and charged time agree with the estimation based on plasma sheath theory and has a good relevance with observation. Simulation result can also provide wake flow structure of moving spacecraft which is hard to obtain analytic solution. Finally, character of LEO spacecraft surface charging simulation made by SPIS has been concluded and is considered as a reasonable result.