Low-pressure discharge causes air ionization resulting in performance degeneration or failure for the satellite sensors in outer space. Here, a one-step Crank--Nicolson Direct-Splitting (CNDS) algorithm is proposed to evaluate the electrical behavior of satellite sensors under the low-pressure discharge circumstance. To be more specific, the CNDS algorithm is proposed in the Lorentz medium, which can accurately analyze the ionized air and generated plasma. Higher order perfectly matched layer (PML) is modified in the Lorentz medium to efficiently terminate the unbounded lattice. It can be concluded that the proposed algorithm shows entire considerable performance in the low-pressure discharge evaluation. The proposed PML formulation behaviors enhanced absorbing performance compared with the existing algorithm. Through the experiments, it can be observed that the low-pressure discharge phenomenon causes performance variation, which shows a significant influence on the satellite sensors. Meanwhile, results show considerable agreement between the simulation and experiment results which indicates the effectiveness of the algorithm.