The Ground Simulation of Spacecraft Discharge Impacts on the Space Environment Detectors

Electron-induced electrostatic discharge on spacecraft can lead to severe anomalies, especially for some scientific instruments, such as space environment detection system. The ground simulation can help to figure out the mechanism of the discharge’s impacts on these detectors, and thus some mitigation methods were put forward and the experiments proved them to be valid. A novel simulation apparatus combined with an electron gun and seven radioactive sources was developed for such tests. This simulation method can also be applied to other electronics system to diagnose problems caused by electron-induced charge and discharge.