Rapid Modeling of Electrostatic Forces and Torques Considering Dielectrics

Abstract

Spacecraft can charge naturally to tens of kilovolts in geosynchronous orbit due to their interactions with the space plasma and the sun. This charging can cause forces and torques that can perturb the orbits of uncontrolled debris objects or be used as a form of touchless actuation in an active charging multicraft formation. Prior work for electrostatic force and torque prediction has developed rapid and accurate methods for conducting spacecraft using the multisphere method (MSM). This paper extends the MSM for spacecraft composed of conductors and dielectrics. It is found that, for some spacecraft and charging regimes, dielectrics can be neglected without introducing significant errors. For the cases that require dielectrics be considered, the MSM is augmented to include dielectric point charges as well as conducting spheres that are placed and sized by a numerical optimizer. Designs are developed that perform better than an average of 2% error for all spacecraft and charging scenarios considered.