A Surface Discharge Model for Spacecraft Dielectrics

A discharge propagation model which is consistent with charge conservation, energy conservation and existing data is proposed. The essential idea in the model is that ions accelerated by the large fields at the edge of the discharge cause the emission of electrons, further ion production and the consequent propagation and discharge of the surface. This paper develops the consistency arguments for three related models and compares the implications of the models with existing data. Only one of the models survives the comparison.