Modelling of an electric antenna for a Mercury orbiting spacecraft

The space mission BepiColombo, a pair of Mercury orbiters, involves a close collaboration between the Alfven Laboratory, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, and the Laboratory of Physics & Chemistry for Environment (LPCE) at Orléans (France). Related to the wave experiment, we now propose a joint diploma project. The topic of this project is to perform a preliminary investigation of the scientific performance in the Mercury plasma environment of the MEFISTO electric antennae at medium frequency.

The investigation will be made by using a modelling method developed by the Orléans group. The main research activity which is anticipated for three months duration will be done at Orléans. Before the stay in Orléans a month or so will be spent at KTH. At Orléans, the work will start by running an existing computer code on a SUN station at LPCE, which the student adapts to the actual geometrical and electrical parameters of the MEFISTO antenna.

The code is based on a finite elements modelling of a complex system of different conductive surfaces embedded in a thermal plasma. The study is limited to a relatively high frequency range (from about 1 kHz up to 150 kHz) involving the expected local resonance of the electrons along the Mercury orbit. Particular emphasis is on studying the impedance, effective length, and mutual coupling between the different parts of the full system.