A Multiscale Model of Reentry Plasma Sheath and Its Nonstationary Effects on Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

During reentry, plasma sheath is affected by many flight factors, such as trajectory, velocity, angle of attack, and fluid turbulence. As a result, the plasma parameters are time-varied and nonstationary. The nonstationary effects of reentry plasma sheath on electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation are investigated in this paper. First, the factors that affect the plasma sheath are analyzed, and the plasma sheath variation is divided into three scales. A multiscale reentry plasma sheath electron density model is established. A compatible modeling method is proposed, and this method is proven effective. Finally, we analyze the effects of plasma sheath on EM wave at 1.57542, 2.2, and 5 GHz, which are generally used in GPS and telemetry, tracking, and command systems. Results show that the statistical parameters of complex transmission coefficients are time-varied and nonstationary.