Electric Discharge in the Martian Atmosphere, Paschen Curves and Implications for Future Missions

Details Electric Discharge in the Martian Atmosphere, Paschen Curves and Implications for Future Missions Electric Discharge in the Martian Atmosphere, Paschen Curves and Implications for Future Missions

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.3014m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #30.14; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1030

Biology

Scientific paper

Electric discharge between two electrically charged surfaces occurs at a well-defined, gas-dependent combination of atmospheric pressure and the distance between those two surfaces, as described by Paschen's law. The understanding of when the discharge will occur in the conditions present on Mars is essential for designing space flight hardware that will operate on the Martian surface as well as understanding electrical discharge processes occurring in the Martian atmosphere. We present experimentally measured Paschen curves for a gas mixture representative of the Martian atmosphere and compare our results to breakdown voltages of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and helium as measured with our system and from the literature. We will discuss possible implications for instrument development as well as implications for processes in the Martian atmosphere. The DC voltage at which electric discharge occurred between two stainless steel spheres was measured at pressures from 10-2 to 100 torr in all gases. We measured a minimum voltage for discharge in the Mars ambient atmosphere of 410±10 volts at 0.3 torr cm. As an application, the breakdown properties of space-qualified, electrical wires to be used in the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) were studied.
H. Manning was funded in the framework of the Sample Analysis at Mars development; I. ten Kate was funded by the Goddard Center for Astrobiology.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Electric Discharge in the Martian Atmosphere, Paschen Curves and Implications for Future Missions does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Electric Discharge in the Martian Atmosphere, Paschen Curves and Implications for Future Missions, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electric Discharge in the Martian Atmosphere, Paschen Curves and Implications for Future Missions will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1122849