Abstract:
Space plasma environments strongly a ect the surfaces of satellites and spacecrafts
at Geosynchronous Earth orbit, resulting in the charging / discharging of spacecraft
due to the di erence between incoming and outgoing particle currents. Non-
Maxwellian power law distributions can be used to solve the current balance equation
to model highly energetic particles, where generalized q { distribution gives
more pronounced energy tails as compare to standard kappa distribution. The
present ndings indicate that the contribution of ion-induced currents apart from
the electron-induced currents is more suitable for the onset of negative spacecraft
charging. Furthermore, numerical analysis are made for di erent spacecraft surface
materials to identify the magnitude of charging and total current on the surface of
spacecrafts.
