Both for sounding rockets and satellites, it is important to measure the floating potential of the spacecraft. For previous events with intense auroral activity, the DMSP F6 and F7 satellites have been estimated to charge to several hundred volts negative. In extreme but rare cases, satellites in eclipse in the auroral region can charge to levels below -2 kV. Such events can lead to arcing around solar panels, endangering the entire satellite. Developing a Floating Probe that can measure spacecraft floating potentials in the entire range up to -2 kV can hence solve both scientific issues for plasma diagnostics and reliability issues for satellites buses.
A Floating Probe design is described in Siefring and Rodriguez (1998), and can form the baseline for the development of the new enhanced Floating Probe design. Design goals will be to resolve spacecraft floating potentials up to at least -1500 V, with a time resolution of better than 1 ms. The main scope of the proposed master thesis work will be to develop the probe itself, with its supporting front-end electronics. For readout, previously developed data acquisition hardware can be used if desired. Diagnostics of the Floating Probe performance can be carried either in the upcoming UiO plasma chamber, or optionally in the ESTEC plasma chamber.
The thesis work will be carried out with co-supervision from an industrial partner, Eidsvoll Electronics AS, which has developed space instrumentation for decades.
For further details on EIDEL see www.eidel.no, or contact Dr. Tore André Bekkeng (tab@eidel.no)