Solar Orbiter Strategies for EMC Control and Verification

Abstract

Solar Orbiter, due for launch in February 2020, is an ESA mission to investigate how the Sun creates and controls the heliosphere. Solar Orbiter will combine insitu particle and field measurements with remote sensing observations of the Sun taken as close as 0.28AU (astronomical units). In order to make in-situ measurements, particularly at particle kinetic scales, it is necessary to establish and maintain control of the electro-static (ESC) and electro-magnetic compatibility (EMC), between platform and instruments alike. We present the strategies employed in the ESC/EMC control of the Solar Orbiter mission, touching on the properties of key equipment such as the Solar Arrays, Reaction Wheels and Instrument Boom (I-Boom), and the proposed verification methodology for the system level EMC test campaign due to take place in 2019.