Closing the Gap-II: Test Approaches to Determine the Electrical Effects of Spacecraft Discharges

Results of a cross-industry survey on the maturity of spacecraft charging technology were recently published. The consensus opinion is that the technology for predicting when and how satellites discharge and how those discharges interact with satellite electronics is lacking and is the highest priority gap that industry needs addressed. This article reviews test methods to measure the directly and indirectly induced discharge effects on electronic circuits. These methods are limited to test articles small enough to fit into existing chambers, which are smaller than typical spacecraft discharge sources and their potential victims. Complimentary analysis methods, reviewed in a companion paper, are required to scale the subscale test results to full size flight hardware. Comparisons of data sets will show that variations of geometry and size can have significant influence on some induced effects, which means that while tests can be definitive, the results cannot be readily generalized to other designs.