ATS-6 spacecraft surface treatment for the control of electrical discharges

The ATS-6 has been subject to potential charges as high as 11,000 volts based on onboard measurements. Thus, special measures were required to protect the spacecraft surface areas, - primarily the Earth Viewing Module, the reflector support truss, and the solar array boom that were specially processed for thermal control - from electrical discharges whose accompanying fields could destroy sensitive receiving circuits. The paper describes thermal blanket grounding criteria and techniques applied to prevent undesired discharge effects, and discusses the disturbance rate from static discharge in orbit.