NASA NTRS · 19800048531
Artificial aurora conjugate to a rocket-borne electron accelerator
Abstract
An accelerator intended to send electron beams upward along an L = 1.24 magnetic field line was flown from a rocket launched from Kauai, Hawaii, on October 15, 1972. Though the intent was to produce several hundred observable auroral streaks in the Southern Hemisphere, imaging instruments operated there aboard jet aircraft detected only a single aurora. Produced by a 0.155-A beam of energy 22.8 keV, the aurora was of expected brightness and had a diameter (210 + or - 50 m) somewhat larger than expected and an altitude (top 116 + or - 2 km; bottom 92 + or - 2 km) higher than expected.
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Davis, T. N., Wescott, E. M., Hallinan, T. J., Stenbaek-Nielsen, H. C., Hess, W. N., Trichel, M. C., Maier, E. J. R.. 1980-04-01. Artificial aurora conjugate to a rocket-borne electron accelerator. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19800048531
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