HR: 0800h
AN: SM41A-1170    [Abstracts]
TI: Anti-critical Temperature for Spacecraft Charging
AU: * Lai, S T
EM: Shu.Lai@Hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate/ VSBXT 29 Randolph Road , Hanscom AFB., MA 01731-3010 United States
AU: Tautz, M
EM: Maurice.Tautz@Hanscom.af.mil
AF: AER/Radex, Inc., Hartwell Ave., Lexington, MA 02421 United States
AB: In recent years, there has been much interest in the existence of a critical temperature for the onset of spacecraft charging to high voltages. High-voltage charging affects scientific instruments on board and is relevant to spacecraft anomalies. In contrast, not much attention has been paid to low-voltage charging which can also affect scientific experiments on board and is relevant to surface chemistry. For completeness, we contend that there exists an anti-critical temperature for spacecraft surface charging. Ambient electrons at very low temperatures tend to cause surface charging, albeit at low voltages. As the electron temperature increases, spacecraft surface charging ceases at a critical value of temperature depending on the surface material. We present the theory. Numerical results of anti-critical temperatures for typical surface materials in Maxwellian space plasmas are presented.
DE: 7800 SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS
DE: 7853 Spacecraft/atmosphere interactions
DE: 7855 Spacecraft sheaths, wakes, charging
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005