ATS-6 Spacecraft Surface Treatment for the Control of Electrical Discharges

The Applications Technology Statellite-6 (ATS-6) has successfully withstood repeated entrances into and exits from occult in a period centered on the 1974 autumn equinox, during which it was subject to potential changes as hikh as 11 000 volts based on onboard measurements. Much of the outer surface of the spacecraft is an insulator, dictated by thermal control design. Consequently, special measures were required to protect the spacecraft, and especially its commmand receiving system, from electrical dischargesp whose accompanying fields could destroy sensitive receiving circuits. This paper describes the thermal blanket grounding criteria applied to prevent undesired discharge effects.