Charging Characteristics of Spacecraft Dielectric Material at Cryogenic Temperature

Charging analysis of spacecraft is necessary to prevent charging accident of spacecraft. In this study, volume resistivity of insulating material for spacecraft at cryogenic temperature was experimentally investigated because some spacecraft such as infrared space telescopes are operated at cryogenic temperature. The charge storage method was used to obtain volume resistivity from potential histories of dielectric films after electron irradiation. Experimental results of Kapton film indicated that the volume resistivity of short time region at 20 K increased by 569 times compared to room temperature. Surface potential remained kV order for several tens of days which may increase the risk of electrostatic discharge. The volume resistivity of the short time region showed the dependency according to exp(T-1/4).