Simultaneous, dual-point, in situ measurements of ionospheric structures using space tethers: TSS-1R observations

Details Simultaneous, dual-point, in situ measurements of ionospheric structures using space tethers: TSS-1R observations Simultaneous, dual-point, in situ measurements of ionospheric structures using space tethers: TSS-1R observations

Oct 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998georl..25.3725i&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 25, Issue 19, p. 3725-3728

Physics

Ionosphere: Electric Fields, Ionosphere: Active Experiments, Ionosphere: Ionospheric Irregularities, Ionosphere: Equatorial Ionosphere

Scientific paper

First ever simultaneous, dual-point, in situ measurements of natural ionospheric structures using widely spaced tethered sensors, flying in formation, were made during the reflight of the Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1R) mission. A ``target-of-opportunity'' observation provided a direct comparison of structured ionospheric irregularity features at two altitudes near the South American geomagnetic equator at approximately 2000 hours local time and at an altitude of ~300 km. With the TSS-1R satellite and space shuttle separated by a vertical distance of 10 km, correlated plasma signatures detected by plasma instruments at each end indicated a strong eastward displacement in the irregularity features and possible growth of steepened features at the higher altitude. Observations made by a SUNDIAL ground station ionosonde located north of the flight path also indicated considerable spread-F activity at the time. A SUNDIAL corrected ionospheric model indicated that the shuttle was flying near the F-peak. Therefore, the strongly correlated in situ observations were most likely associated with irregularities in their early development or modulations near the F-peak due to equatorial spread-F (ESF). While the TSS-1R system was not optimized for dual-point in situ ionospheric measurements, and the tether break eliminated additional equatorial zone observations planned for later in the mission, the results reported here nevertheless indicate that vertically correlated plasma features can exist and can also have strong structural variations as a function of altitude. Such variations need closer examination in order to understand their effects on radiowave scintillation. These observations also demonstrated the feasibility of tethered sensors in the study of ionospheric irregularities using controlled vertical sampling.

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