Remote Electrodynamic Signatures of a Pulsed Shuttle Exhaust Plume Detected by the C/NOFS Vector Electric Field Investigation Probes

Details Remote Electrodynamic Signatures of a Pulsed Shuttle Exhaust Plume Detected by the C/NOFS Vector Electric Field Investigation Probes Remote Electrodynamic Signatures of a Pulsed Shuttle Exhaust Plume Detected by the C/NOFS Vector Electric Field Investigation Probes

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsa21a1439s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SA21A-1439

Physics

[2403] Ionosphere / Active Experiments, [2437] Ionosphere / Ionospheric Dynamics, [2487] Ionosphere / Wave Propagation

Scientific paper

We present in situ measurements gathered with electric field, magnetic field, and fast plasma density probes on the C/NOFS satellite of ionospheric disturbances triggered by a pulsed Space Shuttle burn of 10 second duration at a distance approximately 90 km from C/NOFS. Rocket exhaust causes both micro and macro scale changes in the ionosphere and a pulsed exhaust plume provides an opportunity to assess the effect, range, and amplitude of the ionospheric response to transient chemical releases. The remote signatures observed by the C/NOFS Vector Electric Field Investigation (VEFI) probes are characterized by a broadband packet of electrostatic waves extending from the ULF to the lower hybrid (several kHz) frequencies with amplitudes of several mV/m together with observations of corresponding fast density irregularities. These waves are embedded in, and organized by, a larger scale density perturbation observed where the C/NOFS satellite intercepted the exhaust plume at distance of approximately 90 km from its closest approach to the Space Shuttle. We interpret these waves as primarily due to ion acoustic turbulence. In addition, precisely at the time of the initial burn, a pulse-like electric field transient was observed with an amplitude of ~1 mV/m and magnetic perturbation of 1 nT, that we interpret as a magnetosonic wave with a phase speed of ~1000 km/sec launched by the initial release. We provide a detailed analysis of the waves, including Morlet wavelets which reveal that the power is rapidly modulated in most frequency bands. Three dimensional electric field measurements enable the detailed wave vector direction to be ascertained, including modes parallel to the magnetic field.

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