"As commercial and military spacecraft become more important to the world's economy and defense, and as new scientific and exploratory missions are launched into space, the need for a single comprehensive resource on spacecraft charging becomes increasingly critical. Fundamentals of Spacecraft Charging is the first and only textbook to bring together all the necessary concepts and equations for a complete understanding of the subject. Written by one of the field's leading authorities, this essential reference enables readers to fully grasp the newest ideas and underlying physical mechanisms related to the electrostatic charging of spacecraft in the space environment. Assuming that readers may have little or no background in this area, this complete textbook covers all aspects of the field. The coverage is detailed and thorough, and topics range from secondary and backscattered electrons, spacecraft charging in Maxwellian plasmas, effective mitigation techniques, and potential wells and barriers to operational anomalies, meteors, and neutral gas release. Significant equations are derived from first principles, and abundant examples, exercises, figures, illustrations, and tables are furnished to facilitate comprehension. Fundamentals of Spacecraft Charging is the definitive reference on the physics of spacecraft charging and is suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduate-level students, and professional space researchers"-- Provided by publisher

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prologue : the Earth's space plasma environment -- Introduction to spacecraft charging -- The spacecraft as a Langmuir probe -- Secondary and backscattered electrons -- Spacecraft charging in a Maxwellian plasma -- Spacecraft charging in a double Maxwellian plasma -- Potential wells and barriers -- Spacecraft charging in sunlight -- Space tethers, plasma contactors, and sheath ionization -- Surface charging induced by electron beam impact -- Spacecraft charging induced by electron beam emission -- Supercharging -- Ion beam emission from spacecraft -- Discharges on spacecraft -- Energetic particle penetration into matter -- Spacecraft anomalies -- Deep dielectric charging -- Charging mitigation methods -- Introduction to meteors -- Meteor impacts -- Neutral gas release.

Print version record.

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