The effect of temperature on Shuttle glow

Abstract

The glow on ram surfaces of the Space Shuttle has been reported from a series of photographic observations made during several orbiter missions. These measurements have shown that the spectrum of the glow is a continuum, has a spectral peak at 680 nm, and the brightness decreases with altitude. The spectrum has been tentatively identified as the nitrogen dioxide continuum and follows the interaction of adsorbed nitric oxide with ramming atmospheric oxygen. In this paper the variation of the glow brightness among several different Shuttle flights is reexamined and it is shown that a major contributing factor to glow brightness is probably the temperature of the rammed surface. The derived temperature dependence is also consistent with the Atmospheric Explorer-C satellite 'red' glow intensity data.