THE CURRENT-VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF A LARGE PROBE IN LOW-EARTH-ORBIT - TSS-1R RESULTS

Authors
THOMPSON DC BONIFAZI C GILCHRIST BE WILLIAMS SD RAITT WJ LEBRETON JP BURKE WJ STONE NH WRIGHT KH
Citation
Dc. Thompson et al., THE CURRENT-VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF A LARGE PROBE IN LOW-EARTH-ORBIT - TSS-1R RESULTS, Geophysical research letters, 25(4), 1998, pp. 413-416
Citations number
10
Categorie Soggetti
Geosciences, Interdisciplinary
Journal title
Geophysical research letters → ACNP
ISSN journal
00948276
Volume
25
Issue
4
Year of publication
1998
Pages
413 - 416
Database
ISI
SICI code
0094-8276(1998)25:4<413:TCCOAL>2.0.ZU;2-G
Abstract
Measurements of the current collected by the Tethered Satellite System (TSS) satellite as a function of voltage and ambient plasma parameter s are presented. The satellite current is found to vary approximately with the square root of the potential from below 10 to nearly 1200 V. The collected current exceeded premission expectations, based on the P arker and Murphy [1967] collection model, by factors of two to three. Possible reasons for discrepancies between the measurements and model are briefly discussed.