SIMULATION OF IN-FLIGHT ESD ANOMALIES TRIGGERED BY PHOTOEMISSION, MICROMETEOROID IMPACT AND PRESSURE PULSE

Energetic electrons encountered in space produce electrostatic dischar ges (ESD) resulting from potential growth of dielectrics up to the bre akdown threshold. Materials with very high threshold are often conside red as rather safe towards ESD. In-flight observed anomalies and exper imental results presented in this paper show that discharges can be ob tained for potential lower than the threshold by triggering events as photon illumination, micrometeoroid impacts or pressure and plasma pul se.