[mrfusion]

Wow that makes sense. I thought the spacecraft would be above the atmosphere but maybes there are still a few ions in LEO?

Also how could such a generator work? That makes a potential on the two ends?

[TheLoneWolfling]

There's a surprising amount of atmosphere up where we would consider it to be at orbital heights. People think of the atmosphere as suddenly ending, but it doesn't.

For example, one of the major considerations for how the ISS orients its solar panels is minimizing drag.

And that's what an electrical generator does. It produces an electric potential difference between its two terminals.