Fig. 8. Typical formation flight of the orbiter and the SFU platform for measurement of plasma flow in the geomagnetic field. platform and the space station base. The following is a brief description of these experiments and their operation. High-Voltage Solar Array (HVSA) Experiment The objectives of this experiment are to obtain the mechanical and dynamical characteristics of a solar array and to determine the upper limit of voltage which can be generated by it. The power generated by this instrument will be used for other experiments such as an electrical propulsion test. The solar array will consist of two wings which are 9.6 m x 3.3 m for each. The concerned phenomena of this experiment is electromagnetic interaction of the electrical potential produced on the array surface and the surrounding plasmas as depicted by Fig. 5 (2). This particular experiment will be performed using a single wing to avoid complete loss of the series of missions to use the solar array. The solar cells of the left wing can be connected in orbit to generate various electrical potential distributions. During the test, the effects of not only the environmental plasma but also the turbulence caused by the orbiter will be measured. For this purpose the SFU will make formation flights as shown by Fig. 6 (2). Electrical Propulsion Test Even several kilowatts of electrical power is enough for a study of the effect of exhaust plume of the electrical propulsion on the environment. The thruster of the electrical propulsion will be modularized to be installed in a PLU box with a special thermal radiator to emit the waste heat. A diagnostic package for plasma measurements will be mounted on the main structure of the platform. The primary objective of this test is to evaluate the performance and to measure the exhaust gas flow. Because of constraints of the power supply from the HVSA and attitude control of the SFU platform, the thruster can be fired only when the
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