Abstract

The analysis and evaluation of spacecraft charging are important tasks related to spacecraft design. Plasma parameters and charging potential data are needed for charging and discharging predictions. A new type of electrostatic analyzer using two-stage parallel electrodes has been developed to measure the charging potential of a spacecraft over a wide range, from one volt to tens of kilovolts. The spacecraft charging potential is determined by analyzing the energy spectrum shift. A proof-of-concept model of the new electrostatic analyzer was tested in a vacuum chamber filled with Xe plasma. The experimental results agreed very well with the theoretical predictions. The device, made of two parallel plate electrodes, can measure the charging potential by scanning the electrode voltage over only one-tenth of the actual charging potential. The simple structure and low-voltage operation make the device suitable for operation on a small satellite.

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