Particle-in-Cell Simulation Study on the Floating Potential of Spacecraft in the Low Earth Orbit

In order to further understand the characteristics of the floating potential of low earth orbit spacecraft,the effects of the electron current collection area,background electron temperature,photocurrent emission,spacecraft wake,and the shape of spacecraft on spacecraft floating potential were studied here by particle-in-cell simulation in the low earth orbit.The simulation results show that the electron current collection area and background electron temperature impact on the floating potential by changing the electron current collection of spacecraft.By increasing the electron current collection area or background electron temperature,the spacecraft will float at a lower electric potential with respect to the surrounding plasma.However,the spacecraft wake affects the floating potential by increasing the ion current collected by spacecraft.The emission of the photocurrent from the spacecraft surface,which compensates for the electrons collected from background plasma,causes the floating potential to increase.The shape of the spacecraft is also an important factor influencing the floating potential.

Frequency dependence of electron temperature in hollow cathode-type discharge as measured by several different floating probe methods

We measured electron temperatures through a hollow cathode-type discharge tube using several different floating probe methods. This method detected a shift in the floating potential when an AC voltage was applied to a probe through an intermediary blocking capacitor. The shift in the floating potential is described as a function of the electron temperature and the applied AC voltage. In this study, the effects of the frequency and waveform on the electron temperatures were systematically investigated. The electron temperature measured when using the floating probe method with applied sinusoidal and triangular voltages was lower than that measured with an applied rectangular voltage.The value in the high frequency range was close to that of the tail electron temperature.

Electron Temperature Measurement by Floating Probe Method Using AC Voltage

This study presents a novel floating probe method to measure electron temperatures using a hollow cathode-type discharge tube. The proposed method detects a shift in the floating potential when an AC voltage is applied to a probe through an intermediary blocking capacitor. The shift in the floating potential is described as a function of the electron temperature and the applied AC voltage. The floating probe method is simpler than the Langmuir probe method because it does not require the measurement of volt-ampere characteristics. As the input AC voltage increases, the electron temperature converges. The electron temperature measured using the floating probe method with an applied sinusoidal voltage shows a value close to the first （tail） electron temperature in the range of the floating potential.