Forecasting Spacecraft Frame Charging at Geosynchronous Altitude with the MSFM

Details Forecasting Spacecraft Frame Charging at Geosynchronous Altitude with the MSFM Forecasting Spacecraft Frame Charging at Geosynchronous Altitude with the MSFM

Dec 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agufmsm11a0799h&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #SM11A-0799

Physics

2722 Forecasting, 2730 Magnetosphere: Inner, 2764 Plasma Sheet, 2799 General Or Miscellaneous

Scientific paper

Spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit experience surface frame charging up to tens of kilovolts due to the presence of particles in the 100 eV to 200 keV energy range. We explore the potential of using the Rice University Magnetospheric Specification and Forecast Model (MSFM) to provide charged particle environment descriptions to advanced spacecraft charging algorithms, such as NASCAP-2K, that calculate charging effects based on the geometry and material composition of individual spacecraft. Ultimately, the space weather simulations of the MSFM might become part of a true spacecraft charging forecasting tool. This work reviews attempts to use MSFM output as input to a simple surface-charging algorithm assuming a minimum spacecraft description in order to predict the charging condition of a spacecraft. The minimum spacecraft description accounts for currents resulting from secondary and backscatter electron characteristics of only a single material (Kapton) and minimizes the contribution from photoelectrons. The MSFM is driven by a variety of geophysical parameters and geomagnetic indices (e.g., solar wind density and speed and Kp) and provides output at 15-minute intervals. It is the upstream measurement of solar wind conditions that presents the possibility of using the model in a true forecast mode. Initial comparisons of simplified estimates of current flow to the spacecraft with on-orbit spacecraft frame charging measurements from the Charge Control System (CCS) flown on Defense Satellite Communication System (DSCS) III were promising as the method successfully specified the occurrence of the two largest of the three charging events studied. Also, driving the MSFM with a variety of input parameter combinations for the same events demonstrated that the basic behaviour of the model is consistent with the requirements for producing appropriate electron and ion fluxes, i.e., that it produces some of the spectral changes influencing the backscatter and secondary electron yields that contribute to the currents controlling a spacecraft's potential. A wide variety of charging events will be simulated in order to better characterize the potential of this method.

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