Table H-2: Main engineering concerns due to space plasmas

Scenario	Problem
Outer magnetosphere	Surface charging - possibly harmful electrostatic discharges.
Highvoltage systems in the ionosphere	Power leakage, possible discharges, high spacecraft ground potential, sputtering.
Large spacecraft in the ionosphere	Spacecraft wake creation.
Auroral zone crossings	Surface charging - sputtering and possible electrostatic discharges.
All spacecraft	Ionospheric barrier to groundspace communications below a threshold frequency. Perturbation of signals at higher frequencies.
Radar/navigation	Ionospheric propagation delays to beams.
Electric propulsion	Interactions between generated plasma, ambient plasma, and the spacecraft.
Scientific spacecraft	Low level charging and photoelectrons which interfere with plasma measurements. Plasma entry into sensitive detectors.