Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsm42a..04p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SM42A-04
Physics
[0358] Atmospheric Composition And Structure / Thermosphere: Energy Deposition, [7969] Space Weather / Satellite Drag
Scientific paper
The variability of the neutral thermosphere, in particular wind and neutral density, are important in the context of space weather. These fields have a direct impact on orbital predictions and satellite drag. Significant improvement in the understanding of these fields could be attained through increased in-situ observations. Small satellites provide an opportunity to attain such measurements at low cost. We will present a method for characterizing thermospheric density using a dual-instrument in-situ approach. This method depends upon a novel acceleration measurement suite and a small wind and temperature spectrometer. Combining observations from both instruments results in a robust estimate of atmospheric density. A numerical model has been developed to propagate measurement errors through all signal processing stages thus providing an estimate of precision and accuracy in the density estimates. Previous measurements of density via satellite drag have omitted the contribution of thermospheric wind. Our model shows that this can result is an error of 10-14% which is unacceptable for high-precision orbit prediction. To evaluate this measurement approach, students at the University of Colorado at Boulder have developed a small spacecraft called the Drag and Atmospheric Neutral Density Explorer. This 50 kg spherical satellite addresses important needs of the scientific community by measuring quantities which are crucial to the understanding of the neutral thermosphere and satellite drag. This paper describes the measurement process as well as a method of computing the satellite drag coefficient, a factor which has proven to be a key uncertainty when inverting density from drag. We then present the design and testing of the instruments and summarize the results of Monte Carlo measurement simulations.
Palo Scott E.
Pilinski M.
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