In Situ Measurement of Ionospheric Plasma Density Irregularities with the Plasma Local Anomalous Noise Experiment (PLANE) aboard FalconSAT-3

Physics – Plasma Physics

Scientific paper

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[2439] Ionosphere / Ionospheric Irregularities, [2494] Ionosphere / Instruments And Techniques, [7855] Space Plasma Physics / Spacecraft Sheaths, Wakes, Charging, [7894] Space Plasma Physics / Instruments And Techniques

Scientific paper

The Plasma Local Anomalous Noise Experiment (PLANE) is one of three scientific payloads aboard the United States Air Force Academy's FalconSAT-3 low altitude Earth-orbiting satellite. The primary objective of the PLANE experiment is to diagnose fluctuations in the in situ density along the orbit track. FalconSAT-3 is presently in a 560 km altitude, 35 degree inclination circular orbit, and the PLANE experiment made several plasma measurements on orbit in 2007. The primary objective was to provide a measure of irregularities of the topside ambient ionosphere while separating out turbulence effects generated by the presence of the spacecraft itself. The instrument is a bifurcated Retarding Potential Analyzer with the two halves connected through a circuit that provides a feedback loop to isolate local from global density fluctuations. The irregularities are sorted in five different frequency bins, ranging from 10 kHz to 1 Hz, corresponding to density feature scale sizes from 10 cm to 1 km. Initial results show several events where local turbulence was present in the absence ambient turbulence, and vice versa. The instrument may be used to characterize irregularities associated with UHF scintillations, and thus it may serve well as a fundamental component of space weather satellites. Conceptual schematic of the PLANE concept. Two halves of a bifurcated RPA are connected through processing electronics in a manner which distinguishes local from ambient turbulence. Details to be presented at the meeting.

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