Evaluation of the satellite’s wake effect on the electric field detector onboard the CSES-01 satellite

This study aimed to evaluate the wake effect on the electric field detector (EFD) onboard the China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES-01). Through a series of experiments and analyses, we confirmed that the disturbance phenomenon from probe B of the EFD is not caused by the boom layout. To validate and determine whether it is influenced by the wake effect, we conducted two experiments. In the first experiment, the entire satellite platform underwent a 90° counterclockwise yaw maneuver to allow probe B to avoid the plasma wake region. We then verified whether the disturbance was improved. In the second experiment, the satellite platform performed a 180° counterclockwise yaw maneuver, positioning probe B on the ram side of the satellite and completely avoiding all satellite wakes. The plasma wake effect of the satellite did not significantly influence the spherical probes of the EFD because the measurement accuracy stayed relatively stable under the two experiments, despite the observed abnormalities in the operating state of spherical probe B. This consistency in performance is important for electric field detection missions because the spatial electric field vector data obtained from these probes continue to effectively reflect information on spatial electromagnetic disturbances. These two experimental results showed that probe B consistently exhibited data jump phenomena under various maneuver states, whereas probes A, C, and D did not display such phenomena in any maneuver state.