Analysis of Spacecraft Charging in several space environments

Abstract

Since the first days of space era, the effects of the space environment in spacecraftwere considered a critical issue. Spacecraft charging is one of the most damaging effects of space environment. This work presents this phenomenon, focusing on surface spacecraft charging. This is studied through the Equipot tool that allows to study surface charging in spacecraft at Earth’s environment. It has been performed a sensitive analysis using this code and the results were compared with similar analysis presented in 1989. Considering the expansion of the space technology along the Solar system, it has been considered to broaden the study of this phenomenon to other planets. Therefore, it is also presented in this bachelor thesis the implementation of a Matlab code for the study of spacecraft charging at Jupiter and Saturn’s magnetospheres.