Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm51b1802m&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM51B-1802
Physics
Plasma Physics
[2712] Magnetospheric Physics / Electric Fields, [2794] Magnetospheric Physics / Instruments And Techniques, [7833] Space Plasma Physics / Mathematical And Numerical Techniques, [7855] Space Plasma Physics / Spacecraft Sheaths, Wakes, Charging
Scientific paper
In tenuous space plasma environment, photoelectrons emitted due to solar illumination produce a high-density photoelectron cloud localized in the vicinity of a spacecraft body and an electric field sensor. The photoelectron current emitted from the sensor has also received considerable attention because it becomes a primary factor in determining floating potentials of the sunlit spacecraft and sensor bodies. Considering the fact that asymmetric photoelectron distribution between sunlit and sunless sides of the spacecraft occasionally causes a spurious sunward electric field, we require quantitative evaluation of the photoelectron distribution around the spacecraft and its influence on electric field measurements by means of a numerical approach. In the current study, we applied the Particle-in-Cell plasma simulation to the analysis of the photoelectron environment around spacecraft. By using the PIC modeling, we can self-consistently consider the plasma kinetics. This enables us to simulate the formation of the photoelectron cloud as well as the spacecraft and sensor charging in a self-consistent manner. We report the progress of an analysis on photoelectron environment around MEFISTO, which is an electric field instrument for the BepiColombo/MMO spacecraft to Mercury’s magnetosphere. The photoelectron guard electrode is a key technology for ensuring an optimum photoelectron environment. We show some simulation results on the guard electrode effects on surrounding photoelectrons and discuss a guard operation condition for producing the optimum photoelectron environment. We also deal with another important issue, that is, how the guard electrode can mitigate an undesirable influence of an asymmetric photoelectron distribution on electric field measurements.
Kojima Hedeyasu
Miyake Yasuhiro
Usui Hidetomo
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