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NASCAP simulates the charging process for a complex object in either tenuous plasma (geosynchronous orbit) or ground test (electron gun source) environment. Program control words, the structure of user input files, and various user options available are described in this computer programmer's user manual.
Results are reported from the ECHO-6 electron-beam-injection experiment, performed in the auroral-zone ionosphere on March 30, 1983 using a sounding rocket equipped with two electron guns and a free-flying plasma-diagnostics instrument package. The data are presented in extensive graphs and diagrams and characterized in detail. Large ELF wave variations, superposed on the strong beam-sector-directed quasi-dc component, are observed in the 100-eV beam-induced plasma when the beam is injected in a transverse spiral, but not when it is injected upward parallel to the magnetic-field line. ELF activity is found to be suppressed whenever the rocket passed through field lines with auroral activity, suggesting that the waves are produced by the interaction of the beam potentials, plasma currents, and return currents neutralizing the accelerator payload.
An inductive probing scheme, originally developed for shock tube studies, has been adapted to measure explosive plasma jet conductivities. In this method, the perturbation of an applied magnetic field by a plasma jet induces a voltage in a search coil, which, in turn, can be used to infer electrical conductivity through the inversion of a Fredholm integral equation of the first kind. A 1-inch diameter probe was designed and constructed, and calibration was accomplished by firing an aluminum slug through the probe using a light-gas gun. Exploratory laboratory experiments were carried out using plasma jets expelled from 15-gram high explosive shaped charges. Measured conductivities were in the range of 3 kS/m for unseeded octol charges and 20 kS/m for seeded octol charges containing 2% potassium carbonate by mass.
The results of a recent set of RF frequency measurements of the beam plasma discharge (BPD) performed in order to determine a quantitative value for the field strength in the plasma frequency region of the spectrum are presented. The parallel and perpendicular components of the plasma wave electric fields inside the BPD column have comparable field strengths, on the order of 10 volts/m. The radial dependence of the field strength is very strong, decreasing by as much as 40 dB within one meter from the beam center, with the illumination or discharge column approximately one meter in diameter. The field strength inside the column increases as a function of distance along the beam at least for several meters from the gun aperture. The frequency and amplitude of the plasma wave increases with beam current. A particularly rapid increase in these parameters occurs as the beam current approaches the critical current.
A 100 W, 0.1A electron gun was used in DC and pulsed modes in a series of vehicle charging and wave stimulation observations on a space shuttle. The results show that strong wave-electron scattering is present in most gun operations. It was possible to stimulate intense plasma waves in the ELF, VLF and HF frequency bands.
Electrically insulating spacecraft surfaces are vulnerable to nonuniform charge buildup due to particles emitted by the sun. On Mars, insulating surfaces of exploration vehicles and structures will be affected by dust coatings possibly held in place by triboelectric surface charge. Application of a conductive film may be a solution to the charging problem, but the coating must be highly transparent if used on solar panels, lenses, etc. Sheet resistivity requirements depend on the application and are in the range 10(exp 2) - 10(exp 8) ohms/square. Co-deposited indium tin oxide (ITO) and MgF2 is promising, with high transparency, tailorable electrical properties, and durability to atomic oxygen. Due to ITO's relatively narrow bandgap (approximately 3.5 eV), the film might absorb enough ultraviolet to protect polymeric substrates. Recent work on dual-magnetron-sputtered ITO-MgF2 showed that a variety of polymeric substrates can be coated at room temperature. However, the sheet resistivity is very sensitive to composition, suggestive of a percolation transition. This could be a serious problem for large-scale coating production. We will report on attempts to control film composition by plasma emission monitoring of the ITO and MgF2 guns.
The goal of this work is to experimentally verify the electrostatic interaction physics that have been incorporated into the discrete element method (DEM) modeling software package during the FY20 CIF project titled “Charged Particle Dynamics in the Lunar Environment.” Current state-of-the-art (SOA) granular gas dynamics models used to explain rocket plume impingement physics have not taken into account the natural or induced electrostatic environment of the lunar surface, nor the effect of charged regolith grains being present in the plume plasma. This work improved upon the SOA by adding long-range and contact inter-particle electrostatic interactions to a granular mechanics DEM modeling software package. Tribocharging mechanics between spherical particles has been experimentally examined along with the natural electrostatic plasma environments produced via emission from an electron gun and ultraviolet lamp.
Hypervelocity impacts, referring to impacts occurring at several times the speed of sound in the target, result in inertial stresses greatly exceeding the material strength and produce behavior that is not fully understood. These impact phenomena are seen in space through impacts of orbital debris and meteoroids on spacecraft and airless natural bodies but can also be produced in laboratory environments using light-gas guns and electrostatic dust accelerators. When a hypervelocity impact occurs, plasma is generated both from thermal ionization and from pressure ionization, producing a wide range of plasma densities depending on the impactor’s velocity. This plasma is initially formed in the warm dense matter (WDM) regime and governed by high energy density (HED) hydrodynamics before it rapidly expands and dissipates, spanning many orders of magnitude in density and length scale. The plasma can also contain a dust component, which is particularly relevant for the lower-velocity range of hypervelocity impacts with parameters that are particularly relevant to Tokamak plasmas. Therefore, the properties and dynamics of these plasmas cannot be fully characterized without considering dusty plasma effects, which are ubiquitous but poorly understood.
Plasma jets with high momentum flux density are required for a variety of applications in propulsion research. Methods of producing these plasma jets are being investigated at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The experimental goal in the immediate future is to develop plasma accelerators which are capable of producing plasma jets with momentum flux density represented by velocities up to 200 km/s and ion density up to 10(exp 24) per cu m, with sufficient precision and reproducibility in their properties, and with sufficiently high efficiency. The jets must be sufficiently focused to allow them to be transported over several meters. A plasma accelerator concept is presented that might be able to meet these requirements. It is a self-switching, shaped coaxial pulsed plasma thruster, with focusing of the plasma flow by shaping muzzle current distribution as in plasma focus devices, and by mechanical tapering of the gun walls. Some 2-D MHD modeling in support of the conceptual design will be presented.
Ion optics computational models are invaluable tools in the design of ion optics systems. In this study a new computational model developed by an outside vendor for use at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is presented. This computational model is a gun code that has been modified to model the plasma sheaths both upstream and downstream of the ion optics. The model handles multiple species (e.g. singly and doubly-charged ions) and includes a charge-exchange model to support erosion estimations. The model uses commercially developed solid design and meshing software to allow high flexibility in ion optics geometric configurations. The results from this computational model are applied to the NEXT project to investigate the effects of crossover impingement erosion seen during the 2000-hour wear test.
Ion optics computational models are invaluable tools for the design of ion optics systems. In this study, a new computational model developed by an outside vendor for NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is presented. This model is a gun code which has been modified to model the plasma sheaths both upstream and downstream of the ion optics. The model handles multiple species (e.g. singly and doubly-charged ions) and includes a charge-exchange model for erosion estimates. The model uses commercially available solid design and meshing software, allowing high flexibility in ion optics geometric configurations. This computational model is compared to experimental results from the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) 2000-hour wear test, including over-focusing along the edge apertures, pit-and-groove erosion due to charge exchange, and beamlet distortion at the edge of the hole pattern.
Neutralizer configurations, immersed and withdrawn filaments, for given ion gun based on two- dimensional computer simulation of ion-beam neutralization
Three techniques of discharging satellites used on the P78-2 satellite were the ejection of a beam of electrons from an electron gun; the emission of electrons from a heated, biased filament; and the ejection of a plasma containing energetic positive xenon ions and low energy electrons. When the P78-2 satellite ground to plasma potential difference reached several hundred volts, each of the three techniques was able to completely discharge the satellite. The comparative effctiveness of the techniques were clearly shown. Two days later, the satellite charged to -8 keV upon entering eclipse. The electron gun, emitting 1 mA of electrons with 150 eV energy, reduced the difference in potential between satellite ground and the ambient plasma to -1 kV, but could not completely discharge the satellite. The plasma source completely discharged the satellite.
We present results of a quantitative analysis of structured plasma outflows above a polar coronal hole observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft. In a 6 hr interval of continuous high-cadence SDO/AIA images, we identified more than 2300 episodes of small-scale plasma flows in the polar corona. The mean upward flow speed measured by the surfing transform technique is estimated to be 122 ± 34 km s−1, which is comparable to the local sound speed. The typical recurrence period of the flow episodes is 10–30 minutes, and the mean duration and transverse size of each episode are about 3–5 minutes and 3–4 Mm, respectively. The largest identifiable episodes last for tens of minutes and reach widths up to 40 Mm. For the first time, we demonstrate that the polar coronal-hole outflows obey a family of power-law probability distributions characteristic of impulsive interchange magnetic reconnection. Turbulent photospheric driving may play a crucial role in releasing magnetically confined plasma onto open field. The estimated occurrence rate of the detected self-similar coronal outflows is sufficient for them to make a dominant contribution to the fast-wind mass and energy fluxes and to account for the wind's small-scale structure.
Data from the SCATHA satellite was analyzed to solve the problems of establishing electrical contact between a satellite and the ambient plasma. The original focus of the work was the electron gun experiments conducted near the geosynchronous orbit, which resulted in observations which bore a startling similarity to observations of the SEPAC experiments on SPACELAB 1. The study has evolved to include the ion gun experiments on SCATHA, a modest laboratory effort in hollow cathode performance, and preparation for flight experiments pertinent to tether technology. These areas are addressed separately.
Neutralizer configurations, immersed and withdrawn filaments, for given ion gun based on two- dimensional computer simulation of ion-beam neutralization
In March, 1981, electron beam experiments were conducted in a large space simulation chamber using equipment destined to be flown aboard NASA's Office of Space Science-1 pallet (OSS-1). Two major flight experiments were involved. They include the Vehicle Charging and Potential (VCAP) experiment and the Plasma Diagnostics Package (PDP). Apparatus connected with VCAP included a Fast Pulse Electron Gun (FPEG), and a Charge and Current Probe (CCP). A preliminary view is provided of the results obtained when the electron emissions were held steady over relatively long periods of time such that steady state conditions could be obtained with respect to the electron beam interaction with the neutral gases and plasma of the vacuum chamber. Of particular interest was the plasma instability feature known as the Beam Plasma Discharge. For the present experiments the FPEG was used in a dc mode with a range of currents of 2 to 80 mA at a beam energy of 970 eV. Attention is given to the emissions of VLF and HF noise associated with the dc beam.
An electrostatic analyzer on the electron accelerator of the Electron Echo 2 experiment showed that the electrons of the background plasma were heated to 10,000 K or more within 8 ms of the start of gun pulses. The degree of heating was dependent on the orientation of the rocket with respect to the magnetic field but was not measurably dependent on ambient electron density, neutral atmosphere density, or on the pitch angle at which the 40-keV electron beam was injected. This heating was also accompanied by an increase of plasma density. No evidence was found for an ion-free region around the rocket during gun pulses. These observations show that significant amounts of ionization are taking place around the rocket. During part of the flight a two-temperature electron distribution was found. It is believed that the high-temperature part of these distributions represents secondaries produced by the beam.