Horne Richard B, Phillips Mark W, Glauert Sarah A, Meredith Nigel P, Hands Alex D P, Ryden Keith A, Li Wen
British Antarctic Survey Cambridge UK.
Surrey Space Centre University of Surrey Guildford UK.
Space Weather. 2018 Sep;16(9):1202-1215. doi: 10.1029/2018SW001948. Epub 2018 Sep 3.
Satellite charging is one of the most important risks for satellites on orbit. Satellite charging can lead to an electrostatic discharge resulting in component damage, phantom commands, and loss of service and in exceptional cases total satellite loss. Here we construct a realistic worst case for a fast solar wind stream event lasting 5 days or more and use a physical model to calculate the maximum electron flux greater than 2 MeV for geostationary orbit. We find that the flux tends toward a value of 10 cm·s·sr after 5 days and remains high for another 5 days. The resulting flux is comparable to a 1 in 150-year event found from an independent statistical analysis of electron data. Approximately 2.5 mm of Al shielding would be required to reduce the internal charging current to below the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-recommended guidelines, much more than is currently used. Thus, we would expect many satellites to report electrostatic discharge anomalies during such an event with a strong likelihood of service outage and total satellite loss. We conclude that satellites at geostationary orbit are more likely to be at risk from fast solar wind stream event than a Carrington-type storm.
卫星充电是在轨卫星面临的最重要风险之一。卫星充电会导致静电放电，进而造成部件损坏、虚假指令、服务中断，在极端情况下甚至会导致卫星完全损毁。在此，我们针对持续5天或更长时间的快速太阳风事件构建了一个现实的最坏情况，并使用物理模型计算地球静止轨道上能量大于2兆电子伏特的最大电子通量。我们发现，5天后通量趋向于10厘米·秒·球面度的值，并在接下来的5天内保持高位。由此产生的通量与通过对电子数据进行独立统计分析得出的150年一遇事件相当。大约需要2.5毫米厚的铝屏蔽才能将内部充电电流降低到美国国家航空航天局推荐的指导方针以下，这比目前使用的屏蔽要厚得多。因此，我们预计在这样的事件中，许多卫星会报告静电放电异常情况，并且很有可能出现服务中断和卫星完全损毁的情况。我们得出结论，地球静止轨道上的卫星比卡灵顿型风暴更有可能因快速太阳风事件而面临风险。
