STUDY OF ELECTRIC PROPULSION PLUME INTERACTION ON SPACECRAFT SURFACE CHARGING

As an important form of advanced spacecraft propulsion technology，electric thruster is now widely developed and implemented to replace chemical system for modern spacecraft with high specific impulse.However，dense plume induced by electric propulsion thruster has high density and low energy which is quite different from space plasma on geosynchronous orbit.The difference between thruster and space plasma result in spacecraft surface charging becoming more complicated，which is research hotspots on abroad.In this paper，the effects of the electric propulsion plume on the spacecraft charging are discussed.The related numerical studies，in-flight test and software simulation are reviewed.Finally some suggestions are made for the research work in this field.