A surface chemistry model for the production of N2 LBH spacecraft glow

Details A surface chemistry model for the production of N2 LBH spacecraft glow A surface chemistry model for the production of N2 LBH spacecraft glow

Apr 1990

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990p%26ss...38..555m&link_type=abstract

Planetary and Space Science, Volume 38, Issue 4, p. 555-566.

Physics

7

Scientific paper

Spacecraft-atmosphere interactions leading to N2 Lyman-Birge-Hopfield (LBH) bands in the 1400-1700 Å ultraviolet (reported by Conway et at., 1987, Geophys. Res. Lett. 14, 628) have been proposed to result from surface recombination of N (Kofsky, 1988, Geophys. Res. Lett. 15, 241; Swenson and Meyerott, 1988, Geophys. Res. Lett. 15, 245). The surface recombination of N(4S) can populate the a1Πg, state (which leads to N2 LBH emission) either (1) directly, or (2) by cascade from higher excited states of N2. Gas phase recombination produces a1Πq populations in υ = 4-6, whereas the observed spacecraft surface interactions lower the vibrational population. This study describes and explores the possible cascade (2) mechanism where the upper states of N2 (particularly c'41Σ+u) are populated with the translational energy of ramming N on surface bound N, in recombination. The cascade mechanism would populate the a1Πg, υ = 0-1 directly. The proposed cascade mechanism predicts additional emissions at ~ 3000 Å (Gaydon Herman band system) and ~ 958 Å from the surface recombination. The 958 Å photons can resonant scatter in the spacecraft cloud and atmospheric N2 which would result in extended spacecraft glows in low Earth orbit. The altitude profile is predicted and compared with observations. The predicted emissions offer criteria for experimental confirmation of the (1) ``direct'' vs (2) ``cascade'' mechanisms.

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