Simulations of the solar orbiter spacecraft interactions with the solar wind: effects on RPW and SWA/EAS measurements

S. Guillemant (1) , M. Maksimovic (1) , A. Hilgers (2) , P. Louarn (3) , V. Génot (3) , C.J. Owen (4) , J.C. Matéo Velez (5) , P. Sarrailh (5) , S. Hess (5) , F. Pantellini (1) , L. Lamy (1) , A. Vecchio (1)

1 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
2 ESTEC - European Space Research and Technology Centre
3 IRAP - Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie
4 MSSL, UCL
5 ONERA - The French Aerospace Lab [Toulouse]

We present numerical simulations of the future Solar Orbiter spacecraft/plasma interactions performed with the Spacecraft Plasma Interaction System (SPIS) software. This spacecraft, to be launched in October 2018, is dedicated to the Sun observation with in-situ and remote sensing instruments, brought as close as 0.28 A.U. from our star. In this hot and dense environment, the entire satellite will be submitted to high radiations and temperatures (up to 10 Solar constants). Material responses to environment constraints (heat, U.V. flux, photoemission, secondary electron emission under electron impact – SEEE – or under proton impact - SEEP) might bias the scientific instrument measurements. Our interest is focused on two instruments: the Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) and the Electron Analyzer System (EAS).

Mots clés: SOLAR ORBITER SPACECRAFT; SPIS SOFTWARE

Domaines: Physique de l'espace [physics.space-ph]

S. Guillemant, M. Maksimovic, A. Hilgers, P. Louarn, V. Génot, et al.. Simulations of the solar orbiter spacecraft interactions with the solar wind: effects on RPW and SWA/EAS measurements. SCTC 2016, Apr 2016, NOORDWIJK, Netherlands. ⟨hal-01373173⟩