a. It shall be verified that the level of plasma density is not high enough to produce discharges through the gas.
NOTE EP systems can emit substantial quantities of neutral gas. Examples are gas emitted by electro-thermal thrusters and gas emitted by gridded ion engines and electrodynamic thrusters at start-up before the internal discharges are initiated. These neutral gas emissions, after photo-ionization, can dramatically increase the plasma density around the spacecraft. This can result in the triggering of discharges on charged surfaces or between surfaces actively kept at different potentials.