Modelling studies of charged particle interactions for a space application

An electron emitter neutraliser to prevent spacecraft charging from the use of positive ion thrusters is under development at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. A particle-in-cell code, KARAT, has been used to simulate laboratory experiments, Laboratory test results have been successfully obtained...

Celý popis

Podrobná bibliografie
Hlavní autoři: Aplin, K, Tarakanov, V
Médium: Journal article
Jazyk:English
Vydáno: 2004
Popis
Shrnutí:An electron emitter neutraliser to prevent spacecraft charging from the use of positive ion thrusters is under development at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. A particle-in-cell code, KARAT, has been used to simulate laboratory experiments, Laboratory test results have been successfully obtained with simulations, for model verification. Neutraliser-ion thruster interactions in space have also been modelled. An ion-propelled spacecraft rapidly charges to kilovolt potentials, which can be dissipated by an electron-emitting neutraliser. The effect of background particle concentrations on neutralisation has also been studied.