A TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TSS-1 ROPE INVESTIGATION

The Research on Orbital Plasma Electrodynamics (ROPE) investigation was designed to study the complex of phenomena and processes expected to exist around the highly biased satellite of the TSS-1 system. Specifically, ROPE was to study the characteristics of the high-voltage sheath and study ionization processes in the vicinty of the satellite. To accomplish this, two banks of sensors were mounted on the satellite. One was flush-mounted on the satellite's surface and the other was located at the end of the satellite's fixed boom. Of particular note is the ability to drive the boom probes' surface potential to the local floating potential. In conjunction with satellite spin, the surface-mounted sensors could map the distribution of electron flux to the satellite's surface while the boom-mounted sensors could measure the ion and electron fluxes in and out of the satellite's plasma sheath.