Interference patterns in the Spacelab 2 plasma wave data: Lower hybrid waves driven by pickup ions

Details Interference patterns in the Spacelab 2 plasma wave data: Lower hybrid waves driven by pickup ions Interference patterns in the Spacelab 2 plasma wave data: Lower hybrid waves driven by pickup ions

Dec 1993

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993jgr....9821571f&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 98, no. A12, p. 21,571-21,580

Physics

5

Antenna Radiation Patterns, Earth Ionosphere, Electromagnetic Interference, Ionospheric Propagation, Plasma Diagnostics, Plasma Waves, Space Plasmas, Plasma Frequencies, Power Spectra, Space Shuttle Missions, Spacecraft Antennas, Spacelab, Spacelab Payloads

Scientific paper

During the Spacelab 2 mission the University of Iowa's Plasma Diagnostics Package (PDP) was released from the shuttle to explore the plasma environment around the shuttle. Wideband spectrograms were obtained from the PDP at frequencies from 0 to 30 kHz and distances up to 400 m from the shuttle. The wideband data frequently showed antenna interference patterns when the PDP was on the downstream side of the shuttle. Analysis of these interference patterns allows a determination of the wavelength, the plasma rest frame frequency, the direction of propagation, the power spectrum, and in some cases the location of the source. We concentrate our analysis on interference patterns due to lower hybrid waves: waves which have rest frame frequencies near the lower hybrid frequency and propagate perpendicular to the magnetic field. The waves have an almost flat dispersion relation with frequencies just above the lower hybrid frequency and relatively short wavelengths (1 - 4 m). The observed lower hybrid waves depend strongly on the position of the PDP relative to the shuttle and the magnetic field direction. Our results confirm previous suggestions that the lower hybrid waves are generated primarily in the vicinity of the shuttle and that they are driven by a charge exchange interaction between the ambient ionosphere and a H2O cloud around the shuttle.

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