Abstract
Light-weight thin plate structure is expected to play an important role in space development in the near future. Thin film solar array, solar sail, planar antenna, and inflatable structure are the typical examples. We have carried out hyper-velocity impact experiments on thin plate targets using a light gas gun, to study propagation of the impact plasma associated with an interference with electrical parts on the planar plate. Propagation of the luminous cloud and generated plasma were observed by a high-speed video camera and an array of plasma probes, respectively. It was found there existed a high-dense plasma propagating along the surface of the plate at a high-speed more than the projectile velocity. The characteristic behaviors of the plasma propagation were explained by the half-range Maxwellian plasma uniformly ejected from the collision area.
