木星极光等离子体环境表面充电三维仿真分析

木星为太阳系内少有的强磁场行星,其等离子体环境十分恶劣,可对木星探测器造成严重的表面充电效应。文章采用有限元方法,借助COMSOL仿真软件,对航天器表面充电现象进行三维仿真,结合NASCAP-2k以及SPIS软件对比验证了GEO表面充电效应的模拟结果,证明了该仿真方法的有效性。对航天器在木星极光等离子体环境下的表面充电现象仿真分析结果表明,在木星背景等离子体环境中15RJ处,航天器表面充电电位较低,仅为平均-80 V左右;而在木星极光等离子体中,航天器表面充电电位最高可以达到-36.7 k V,CERS等材料表面充电电位差最大可以达到-16 k V,具有较高的放电风险。

3D simulation of spacecraft surface charging in Jovian auroral environment

The magnetic field of Jupiter is very strong, and the related plasma environment may have a serious surface charging effect on the Jupiter detectors. In this paper, the surface charging phenomenon of the spacecraft in Jupiter plasma environment is simulated by the COMSOL software based on the finite element method. The result is verified by comparing with those of the NASCAP-2k and the SPIS software with regard to the GEO plasma environment. It is further shown that in the Jovian background plasma environment, the surface potentials of the spacecraft can be reduced to an average of -80 V; while in the Jovian auroral environment, the maximum surface potentials of the spacecraft can be as high as -36.7 kV, and the maximum differential potential between CERS and other materials can reach up to -16 kV, with very high risk of discharging.