Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsm33c1576d&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SM33C-1576
Physics
[2403] Ionosphere / Active Experiments, [2483] Ionosphere / Wave/Particle Interactions, [2494] Ionosphere / Instruments And Techniques, [2736] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions
Scientific paper
We discuss a space sensor network that has the objective of understanding and quantitatively understanding the role of low frequency plasma waves in driving ion outflow from the ionosphere to the magnetosphere in the coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere (MI) system. Recently, attention has fallen on the Ionospheric Alfvén Resonator (IAR). The IAR is a cavity-resonator with natural frequencies ~0.1 - 5 Hz in the upper atmosphere, formed with a lower boundary at the conducting E-region and an upper boundary at the Alfvén speed maxima at around 1 earth radius. This cavity resonator is believed to play an important part in the development of perpendicular density and field aligned current (FAC) scales, resonant coupling with electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves that provide loss mechanisms for energetic particles in the radiation belt, and ion and energy outflow feedback mechanisms into the ionosphere. However, the simultaneous multi-point in-situ observations inside the IAR cavity that are needed to categorize observationally how the waves and density structures evolve have never been made. Validation of IAR models at low altitude would benefit from satellite measurements in the topside ionosphere. At assumed F-region altitudes of 200-400 km, optimal data will be obtained if the (unambiguous) spatial and temporal resolution of measurements is better than the expected phenomenon scales; this would require simultaneous in-situ measurements separated by spatial scales from as small as 100 m up to on the order of a few km, at up to ~1 s cadence. Remote imaging techniques integrate over the ionosphere within volumes that have scale sizes of several tens of km, and are thus unsuitable for determining the smaller spatial scales that are proposed in this study. Sensors on a single satellite taking point measurements suffer from an inherent inability to distinguish spatial and temporal effects, which is a strong requirement for unambiguously studying waves. An absolute minimum of four satellites in an out-of-plane constellation is required to unambiguously resolve space and time effects in the ambient region. The proposed SPARC-E mission consists of plasma sensors measuring electron temperature and density placed on eight satellites in similar orbits between 300 and 800 km. Inter-satellite separations increase over the lifetime of the mission from a few cm to tens of km. The mission concept is to deploy ten wirelessly-linked, very small satellites to take distributed, in-situ measurements of ionospheric plasma density and temperature in the IAR cavity. A high-latitude circular orbit (>60 degree inclination, ~350-800 km altitude) allows sensor satellites to enter and exit the IAR cavity region of interest and thus acquire both baseline and disturbed measurements. The constellation will not be maintained, but rather be launched together and allowed to disperse naturally due to orbital perturbations. Orbit control is not required or desired, as the natural perturbations will serve to alter the separation and lower the altitude over time without adding the complexity and overhead of a propulsion subsystem. We will describe details of the overall mission concept to include the payload, spacecraft bus, and mission operations.
Balthazor Richard L.
Dearborn M. E.
Huffman J. J.
McHarg Matthew G.
No associations
LandOfFree
Satellites Probing the Alfvénic Resonator Cavity Experiment : SPARC-E does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Satellites Probing the Alfvénic Resonator Cavity Experiment : SPARC-E, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Satellites Probing the Alfvénic Resonator Cavity Experiment : SPARC-E will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1879373