The Effect of Solid Particle Injection on the Transmission Rate of Radio Waves Through the Shock Produced Plasma Sheath

Abstract

Radio signal blackout in communication from ground-based stations to fast moving space reentry vehicles and vice-versa is a vital problem in space research missions. Many mitigation solutions, including electrophilic liquid injection into the plasma sheath and creating the magnetic window, have already been proposed and tested successfully in real flights. In this paper after describing the conditions for plasma sheath formation around an entering space vehicle, using scattering matrix method (SMM) and Fresnel coefficients, we showed analytically that up to some injected dust concentration, the radio wave transmission through plasma sheath can be ameliorated and so the blackout period is relatively decreased.