Effects of Satellite Body on Magnetic Plasma Orbit Control for Nanosatellites

TL;DR

This study investigates how the finite size of a nanosatellite affects magnetic plasma orbit control by simulating plasma interactions, revealing that the satellite body reduces high-potential regions and simple biasing is ineffective.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the impact of satellite body effects on plasma-based orbit control methods through kinetic plasma simulations.

Findings

High-potential regions shrink due to satellite body effects.

Applying bias voltage alone is ineffective in expanding high-potential regions.

Electron accumulation within the satellite enclosure lowers floating potential.

Abstract

The magnetic plasma orbit control (MPOC) has been proposed for micro and nanosatellites in the sun-synchronous orbits (SSO) in the low earth orbit (LEO). This method utilizes the plasma drag force generated by the interaction between space plasma and the magnetic field surrounding magnetic torquers (MTQs). In this study, the effects of a finite satellite body on high-potential area generation are investigated by using a plasma flow simulation based on the fully kinetic model. The simulation results show that the predicted high-potential region shrinks due to the finite satellite body because the positive charges of stagnated ions in front of the satellite are absorbed into the satellite surface. In addition, simply applying a bias voltage at the front surface is ineffective in expanding the high-potential region. Specifically, applying a positive bias at the front surface resulted in the accumulation of electrons within the satellite enclosure, causing the floating potential of the satellite to drop according to the applied voltage.