Impact-Induced ESD and EMI/EMP Effects on Spacecraft—A Review

Recent studies have indicated that the effects of meteoroid and debris impacts on spacecraft are not being adequately considered in spacecraft design. They imply that electrical effects, including both charging and plasma production, caused by meteoroid and debris impacts have not been sufficiently addressed. To address these concerns, this paper will present the current evidence for impact-induced electrical anomalies and the characteristics of the impact-generated plasma and electromagnetic environments associated with hypervelocity particle impacts. This paper will be limited to describing the effects of hypervelocity impacts of particles fast enough to generate a plasma or impulse sufficient to affect spacecraft systems but sufficiently small that the classic mechanical damage to the system is of limited concern. Because this failure mechanism scales highly with velocity, we consider effects from particles as small at 10^-15 grams, which are far more numerous and therefore more likely to impact spacecraft. Mitigation methods will be presented that are aimed at limiting the effects of the resulting plasmas and their electrostatic discharge and electromagnetic interference/pulse effects rather than at the typical structural or mechanical failures expected from such impacts. The ultimate intent of this paper is to focus on the description and mitigation of this relatively ignored form of in-space charging and motivate further experimental studies of this interesting and rich phenomenon.