Transport Characteristics of the Electrification and Lightning of the Gas Mixture Representing the Atmospheres of the Solar System Planets

Abstract

Electrification represents a fundamental process in planetary atmospheres, widespread in the Solar System. The atmospheres of the terrestrial planets (Venus, Earth, and Mars) range from thin to thick are rich in heavier gases and gaseous compounds, such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, sodium, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide. The Jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) have thick atmospheres mainly composed of hydrogen and helium involving. The electrical discharge processes occur in the planetary atmospheres leading to potential hazards due to arcing on landers and rovers. Lightning does not only affect the atmospheric chemical composition but also has been involved in the origin of life in the terrestrial atmosphere. This paper is dealing with the transport parameters and the breakdown voltage curves of the gas compositions representing atmospheres of the planets of the Solar System. Ionization coefficients, electron energy distribution functions, and the mean energy of the atmospheric gas mixtures have been calculated by BOLSIG+. Transport parameters of the carbon dioxide rich atmospheric compositions are similar but differ from those of the Earth’s atmosphere. Small differences between parameters of the Solar System’s outer planets can be explained by a small abundance of their constituent gases as compared to the abundance of hydrogen. Based on the fit of the reduced effective ionization coefficient, the breakdown voltage curves for atmospheric mixtures have been plotted. It was found that the breakdown voltage curves corresponding to the atmospheres of Solar System planets follow the standard scaling law. Results of calculations satisfactorily agree with the available data from the literature. The minimal and the maximal value of the voltage required to trigger electric breakdown is obtained for the Martian and Jupiter atmospheres, respectively.