Surface electrostatic discharge of charged typical space materials induced by strong electromagnetic interference

Abstract Surface charging of typical space materials such as polyimide and high density polyethylene may sometimes cause electrostatic discharge (ESD) under natural conditions. That is because polymer materials usually present lower surface discharge strength compared with their bulk breakdown strength, especially in vacuum. However, the space environment is very complicated, extremely hostile environments such as solar storms and magnetospheric substorms may happen and bring strong electromagnetic interference (EMI), which may induce ESD in spacecraft more easily and cause great damage to those spacecraft. In this paper, an innovative platform which can simulate the ESD of materials induced by strong EMI of microwave sources is set up. The influence of different factors such as power density, repetition frequency of microwave source, electromagnetic wave angle and distance between high voltage and ground electrode are researched. In addition, we perform particle-in-cell simulations to illustrate multipactor dynamics under the influence of strong electromagnetic waves. The induced discharging can be attributed to the electric field component of strong electromagnetic waves.