Broadband radio-frequency spectrum from electrostatic discharges on spacecraft

A comparison is presented of new measurements of the RF spectrum from the Kapton blanket from the backside of the MILSTAR spacecraft's flexible substrate solar array (FSSA) with other space and laboratory data so that they will be more readily available for the analysis of spacecraft systems. The electric-field intensity from the MILSTAR FSSA Kapton blanket is not in accord with the area scaling for the Mylar sample. Since the spectral shape for the Kapton sample differs from that for the Mylar, and since the amplitude of the pulse from the Kapton differs from that expected from the area scaling derived from the Mylar samples, spectrum, amplitude, and scaling for other materials and for other sizes of Kapton are highly uncertain. (AIAA)