Open AccessMechanism of rapid-charging events for international space station
Author(s) -
Jian Huang,
Yi Zhong,
Meng Li-Fei,
H. Zhao,
Yenan Liu
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.62.099401
Subject(s) - solar eclipse , amplitude , excitation , physics , environmental science , daytime , computational physics , atmospheric sciences , optics , astronomy , quantum mechanics
The high negative amplitude rapid-charging events (RCEs), which were observed by the floating potential measurement unit (FPMU) on the International Space Station (ISS) and occurred at the eclipse exit, have attracted a lot of attention recently and are not yet understood. The RCEs are most serious of all types of ISS charging phenomena. Compared with the normal-charging events (NCEs) which occurred on morning sector, the RCEs are characteristic of rapid rise time (<10 seconds) and higher amplitude (30—70 V). In particular, their occurrence at the morning terminator indicates that they are related to the solar panel excitation process at the moment of receiving solar illumination. In this paper, an electric circuit model for the charging of the ISS structure and solar panel is established, based on which a differential equation is developed, with the different charging mechanisms included and also the way of solar panel excitation considered. The calculation results for the RCEs agree well with the typical waveforms.