Analysis of differential and active charging phenomena on ATS-5 and ATS-6

Abstract

Spacecraft charging on the differential charging and artificial particle emission experiments on ATS 5 and ATS 6 were studied. Differential charging of spacecraft surfaces generated large electrostatic barriers to spacecraft generated electrons, from photoemission, secondary emission, and thermal emitters. The electron emitter could partially or totally discharge the satellite, but the mainframe recharged negatively in a few 10's of seconds. The time dependence of the charging behavior was explained by the relatively large capacitance for differential charging in comparison to the small spacecraft to space capacitance. A daylight charging event on ATS 6 was shown to have a charging behavior suggesting the dominance of differential charging on the absolute potential of the mainframe. Ion engine operations and plasma emission experiments on ATS 6 were shown to be an effective means of controlling the spacecraft potential in eclipse and sunlight. Elimination of barrier effects around the detectors and improving the quality of the particle data are discussed