Analysis of differential spacecraft charging using suprathermal GEO plasma particles

Abstract

This paper presents the method to analyze the differential spacecraft charging using q-non extensive Tsallis distribution to take into account the higher energy tails of suprathermal GEO space plasma particles. The work involves plasma modelling considering different types of primary and secondary plasma particles, deriving current valence equations on the spacecraft bodies. Different current densities are obtained using Tsallis non extensive q-distribution. The temporal built-up spacecraft potential is obtained by solving the differential equation derived from current balance equation and spacecraft potential and the capacitance of the spacecraft body. Capacitance computation has been carried out using Fast Multipole Method accelerated GMRES (Generalized Minimal Residual) method which is capable of solving matrix multiplication in linear time complexity of O(N). The result present analysis has been compared with Maxwellian distribution.