THE GOAL OF THIS EFFORT (EARLY FEBRUARY 2016 - THRU DECEMBER 1 2016) IS TO DEVELOP A DETAILED PIC MODEL OF THE APPROPRIATE PARTICLES AND ELECTROSTATIC/MAGNETIC FIELDS TO ASSESS HOW AN E-SAIL WILL FUNCTION AS OUTLINED IN TASKS 1- 4 BELOW AND AS SHOWN IN FIGURE 1 (NOTIONAL PIC MODEL DEVELOPMENT FLOW). IN PARTICULAR THIS EFFORT SHALL RESULT IN THE DEFINITION AND DEVELOPMENT OF A PIC MODEL CAPABLE OF ASSESSING THE GENERAL PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS OF A DEEP SPACE E-SAIL PROPELLED SPACECRAFT OPERATING IN THE SOLAR WIND. SOME OF THE MAJOR SYSTEM PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS OF INTEREST FOR SUCH A SYSTEM ARE: THRUST REQUIRED SYSTEM ELECTRICAL POWER LEVELS CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REQUIRED ELECTRON EMISSION DEVICE (E.G. ELECTRON GUN) EFFECTS OF SOLAR WIND DENSITY AND MAGNITUDE OF SOLAR WIND VARIATIONS (E.G. SHOCKS) AND IMPACTS OF INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELDS AND CURRENT-GENERATED FIELDS AROUND E-SAIL WIRES. THE PIC MODEL WILL BE COMPARED WITH THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM PLASMA CHAMBER EXPERIMENTS TO ASSESS HOW WELL THE PIC MODEL IS PREDICTING ELECTRON AND PROTON INTERACTIONS WITH ELECTRICALLY BIASED WIRES. THE EXPERIMENTAL DATA THAT WILL BE PRODUCED IN THE MSFC MATERIALS LAB PLASMA CHAMBER BY IMMERSING A CHARGED WIRE IN A SYNTHESIZED FLOWING PLASMA. TENTATIVE PROPERTIES FOR THE MSFC EXPERIMENTAL TESTS ARE SHOWN IN TABLE 1. FULL-SCALE TESTING OF AN ACTUAL E-SAIL IN A SIMULATED SOLAR WIND IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ACCOMPLISH ON EARTH. THEREFORE ONCE VALIDATED THE PIC MODEL WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP ENGINEERING ANALYTICAL TOOLS THAT CAN SUPPORT DESIGN ACTIVITIES FOR A FULL-SCALE E-SAIL PROPULSION SYSTEM AND INTEGRATED SPACECRAFT FOR APPLICATION IN THE SOLAR WIND. 2 THE PIC MODEL FUNDED UNDER THIS TASK IS FOCUSED ON THE E-SAIL ASPECTS AND ADDITIONAL STUDIES OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF THE PROPULSION SYSTEM ARE NOT BEING FUNDED HEREIN BUT ADDITIONAL USES OUTSIDE OF THE PROPULSION SYSTEM ARE ANTICIPATED BY OTHER FUNDING SOURCES.