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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Wireless Antenna Detection Of Electrostatic Discharge Events, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison Aug 2019

Wireless Antenna Detection Of Electrostatic Discharge Events, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Wireless intraspacecraft communication technology is being developed for signal transfer on space missions to save weight and simplify the design. One consideration for this new technology is its interaction with space environmentinduced electrostatic discharges (ESDs). The short time scales of spacecraft ESD events result in broad frequency band signals that can interact with high-frequency wireless antennas. These interactions present a source of signal noise. However, they also present a possibility of in-flight wireless ESD monitoring. We present laboratory measurements of arcing on common spacecraft insulators using commercially available single-band 2.4-GHz and dual-band 2.4-/5.8-GHz Wi-Fi antennas. These wireless detections are shown …


Perspectives On The Distributions Of Esd Breakdowns For Spacecraft Charging Applications, Allen Andersen, Krysta Moser, Jr Dennison Aug 2017

Perspectives On The Distributions Of Esd Breakdowns For Spacecraft Charging Applications, Allen Andersen, Krysta Moser, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) continues to pose significant risks to space missions despite decades of intense study. Tabulated values of material breakdown strength used in spacecraft charging models are often based on cursory measurements that may not be fully relevant to a given mission. Materials physics offers insight into the pertinent variables that affect breakdown and how to address them experimentally for spacecraft applications. We present measured distributions of ESD data across several test configurations for three polymeric materials that, taken together, begin to provide an understanding of how to estimate the likelihood of ESD events over a spacecraft’s mission lifetime. …


Dependence Of Electrostatic Field Strength On Voltage Ramp Rate For Spacecraft Materials, Krysta Moser, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison Aug 2017

Dependence Of Electrostatic Field Strength On Voltage Ramp Rate For Spacecraft Materials, Krysta Moser, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

This work investigated the dependence of electrostatic field strength for spacecraft materials on voltage ramp rate, by applying an increasing incremental electrostatic field until electrostatic breakdown occurred. Tests on Kapton E found that at ramp rates two or three orders of magnitude lower than the maximum recommended rate, the electrostatic breakdown field, FESD was lower by a factor of two or more. This suggests that tabulated values of FESD, which have been used by the spacecraft charging community, could substantially overestimate FESD in common slowly evolving spacecraft situations. This study expanded these ramp rate tests to include a wider range …


Electrostatic Discharge And Endurance Time Measurements Of Spacecraft Materials: A Defect-Driven Dynamic Model, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison, Alec Sim, Charles Sim Jan 2015

Electrostatic Discharge And Endurance Time Measurements Of Spacecraft Materials: A Defect-Driven Dynamic Model, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison, Alec Sim, Charles Sim

Journal Articles

Electrostatic breakdown leads to the majority of anomalies and failures attributed to spacecraft interactions with the plasma space environment. It is therefore critical to understand how electrostatic field strength (FESD) of spacecraft materials varies due to environmental conditions such as duration of applied electric field, rate of field change, history of exposure to high fields, and temperature. We have developed a dual-defect, thermodynamic, mean-field trapping model in terms of recoverable and irrecoverable defect modes to predict probabilities of breakdown. Fits to a variety of measurements of the dependence of FESD of insulating polymers on endurance time, voltage …