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Ionospheric VLF electrostatic noise observed by sounding rocket, noting proton gyrofrequency harmonics effects within emission attenuation bands
A method for calculating the geometric factor of cylindrical plate electrostatic energy analyzers with various detector geometries is described. The effects of the fringe-field are estimated. For a special simple case an exact geometric factor is calculated enabling an estimate of the inaccuracies of the approximations used in other cases. The results of some calculations are presented and a simple approximate expression for the geometric factor is deduced.
A method for calculating the geometric factor of cylindrical plate electrostatic energy analyzers with various detector geometries is described. The effects of the fringe field are estimated. For a special simple case an exact geometric factor is calculated, enabling an estimate to be made of the inaccuracies of the approximations used in other cases. The results of some calculations are presented, and a simple approximate expression for the geometric factor is deduced.
An electrically conductive flat black paint has been developed for use on the Galileo spacecraft which will orbit Jupiter in the late 1980s. The paint, designed for equipment operating in high-energy radiation fields, has multipurpose functions. Its electrical conductivity keeps differential charging of the spacecraft external surfaces and equipment to a minimum, preventing the buildup of electrostatic fields and arcing. Its flat black aspect minimizes the effects of stray light and unwanted reflectances, when used in optical instruments and on sunshades. Its blackness is suitable, also, for thermal control, when the paint is put on spacecraft surfaces. The paint has good adherence properties, as measured by tape tests, when applied properly to a surface. The electrically conductive paint which was developed has the following characteristics: an electrical resistivity of 5 x 10 to the 7th ohms per square; a visual light total reflectance of approximately 5 percent; an infrared reflectance of 0.13 measured over a spectrum from 10 to the (-5.5) power to 0.001 meter; a solar absorptivity, alpha-s, of 0.93, and a thermal emissivity, epsilon, of 0.87, resulting in an alpha-s/epsilon of 1.07. The formula for making the paint and the process for applying it are described.
A number of issues involving grain charging in the interstellar medium were discussed. Such effects include: (1) stark broadening of molecular spectral features, (2) electrostatic grain rupturing, (3) enhancements in particle-grain collision cross sections, and (4) excitation of molecular rotations and/or vibrations.
The proceedings of the 1991 International Aerospace and Ground Conference on Lightning and Static Electricity are reported. Some of the topics covered include: lightning, lightning suppression, aerospace vehicles, aircraft safety, flight safety, aviation meteorology, thunderstorms, atmospheric electricity, warning systems, weather forecasting, electromagnetic coupling, electrical measurement, electrostatics, aircraft hazards, flight hazards, meteorological parameters, cloud (meteorology), ground effect, electric currents, lightning equipment, electric fields, measuring instruments, electrical grounding, and aircraft instruments.
Consideration of the nuclear electric quadrupole terms in the expression for the fusion Coulomb barrier suggests that this electrostatic barrier may be substantially modified from that calculated under the usual plasma assumption that the nuclei are electric monopoles. This effect is a result of the nonspherical potential shape and the spatial quantization of the nuclear spins of the fully stripped ions in the presence of a magnetic field. For monopole-quadrupole fuel cycles like p-B-11, the fusion cross-section may be substantially increased at low energies if the protons are injected at a small angle relative to the confining magnetic field.
Fast plasma heating by anomalous and inertial resistivity effects is described. A small fraction of the plasma contains strong currents that run parallel to the magnetic field and are driven by an exponentiating electric field. The anomalous character of the current dissipation is caused by the excitation of electrostatic ion cyclotron and/or ion acoustic waves. The role of resistivity due to geometrical effects is considered. Through the use of a marginal stability analysis, equations for the average electron and ion temperatures are derived and numerically solved. The evolution of the plasma is described as a path in the drift velocity diagram, in which the drift velocity is plotted as a function of the electron to ion temperature ratio.
Previous calculations of electrostatic and electromagnetic growth rates for plasma instabilities have neglected the thermal spread of the distribution function of the planetary ions. We consider the effects of finite temperatures for exospheric ions borne in the solar wind. Specifically, growth rates are calculated for electromagnetic instabilities in the low-frequency case for Alfven waves and the intermediate frequency case for whistlers. Also, electrostatic growth rates are calculated for the intermediate frequency regime. From these growth rates, estimates are derived for the pickup times of the planetary ions. The electromagnetic instabilities are shown to produce the most rapid pickup. In the situation where the angle between the local Venus magnetic field and the plasma flow direction is small, the pickup times for both electromagnetic and electrostatic instabilities become very long. A possible consequence of this effect is to produce regions of enhanced planetary ion density in favorable Venus magnetic field-solar wind flow geometries.
Data from the two electric field experiments and from the plasma composition experiment on ISEE-1 show that the spacecraft charged to close to -70 V in sunlight at about 0700 UT on March 17, 1978. Data from the electron spectrometer experiment show that there was a potential barrier of some -10 to -20 V about the spacecraft during this event. The potential barrier was effective in turning back emitted photoelectrons to the spacecraft. Potential barriers can be formed because of differential charging on the spacecraft or because of the presence of space charge. The stringent electrostatic cleanliness specifications imposed on ISEE make the presence of differential charging unlikely, if these precautions were effective. Modeling of this event is required to determine if the barrier was produced by the presence of space charge.
Intense (at least 10 mV/m) electrostatic plasma waves have been detected near the upper hybrid frequency between + or -50 deg MLAT during recent GEOS-1 crossings. Wave growth rate and convective amplification calculations were carried out in order to explain the occurrence of intense upper hybrid (IUH) events over such a wide range of latitudes. The effects of wave refractions were taken into account in the convective amplification calculations. Specific results are presented for the upper hybrid wave growth of an IUH event occurring at 10 deg MLAT. It is shown that a density gradient may be necessary to explain the observed amplification at 10 deg MLAT. At the equator, however, the long scale length of the magnetic field gradient enables large amplitudes to be attained without a density gradient. The results of a UH ray tracing analysis are discussed within the framework of current theories concerning magnetospheric continuum radiation.
The results are presented of a detailed study that examines the effects of cold plasma on the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Both electrostatic and electromagnetic modes are considered. The interest in the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability stems from observations of low frequency waves in the polar cusp, magnetopause, in fast moving auroral forms, the plasma pause, and other regions of magnetospheric flow boundaries. It is pointed out that the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is driven by a velocity shear and can excite a broad spectrum of wave frequencies below the ion gyrofrequency. A model is obtained of a flow boundary that includes a density gradient perpendicular to the velocity shear. The analysis shows a compressional component in Kelvin-Helmholtz waves.
The velocity distribution of earthward jetting ions that are observed principally during substorm recovery by satellites at approximately 15-35 earth radii in the magnetotail is quantitatively compared with two different theoretical models - the 'adiabatic deformation' of an initially flowing Maxwellian moving into higher magnetic field strength (model A) and the field-aligned electrostatic acceleration of an initially nonflowing isotropic Maxwellian including adiabatic deformation effects (model B). The assumption is made that the ions are protons or, more generally, that they consist of only one species. It is found that both models can explain the often observed concave-convex shape of isodensity contours of the distribution function.
Data from two electric field experiments and from the plasma composition experiment on ISEE-1 are used to show that the spacecraft charged to close to -70 V in sunlight at 0700 UT on March 17, 1978. Data from the electron spectrometer experiment show that there was a potential barrier of -10 to -20 V about the spacecraft during this event. The potential barrier was effective in turning back emitted photoelectrons to the spacecraft. The stringent electrostatic cleanliness specifications imposed on ISEE make the presence of differential charging unlikely. Modeling of this event is required to determine if the barrier was produced by the presence of space charge.
The topics are presented in viewgraph form and include the following: ignition subsystems, enhanced safety, optical ordnance power densities, optical ignition factors, low energy optical ordnance program, absorptance of 2-(5-cyanotetrazolato) pentaaminecobalt(III) perchlorate (CP) near 800 nm, power dependence of doped CP, system operational electrical requirements, dopant concentration effects for different CP particle sizes, ZR/KCLO4 optical ignition thresholds, and electrostatic discharge testing.
We present results from several projects in the new field of computational astrobiology, which is devoted to advancing our understanding of the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the Universe using theoretical and computational tools. We have developed a procedure for calculating long-range effects in molecular dynamics using a plane wave expansion of the electrostatic potential. This method is expected to be highly efficient for simulating biological systems on massively parallel supercomputers. We have perform genomics analysis on a family of actin binding proteins. We have performed quantum mechanical calculations on carbon nanotubes and nucleic acids, which simulations will allow us to investigate possible sources of organic material on the early earth. Finally, we have developed a model of protobiological chemistry using neural networks.
The stochastic motion of protons and He(sup +) ions driven by Pc1 wave packets is studied in the context of resonant particle heating. Resonant ion cyclotron heating typically occurs when wave powers exceed 10(exp -4) nT sq/Hz. Gyroresonance breaks the first adiabatic invariant and energizes keV ions. Cherenkov resonances with the electrostatic component of wave packets can also accelerate ions. The main effect of this interaction is to accelerate thermal protons to the local Alfven speed. The dependencies of observable quantities on the wave power and plasma parameters are determined, and estimates for the heating extent and rate of particle heating in these wave-particle interactions are shown to be in reasonable agreement with known empirical data.
Data from two electric field experiments and from the plasma composition experiment on ISEE-1 show that the spacecraft charged to close to -70 V in sunlight at about 0700 UT on March 17, 1978. Data from the electron spectrometer experiment show that there was a potential barrier of some -10 to -20 V about the spacecraft during this event. The potential barrier was effective in turning back emitted photoelectrons to the spacecraft. Potential barriers can be formed by differential charging on the spacecraft or by the presence of space charge. The stringent electrostatic cleanliness specifications imposed on ISEE made the presence of differential charging seem unlikely, if these precautions were effective. Modeling of the event to determine if the barrier was produced by the presence of space charge suggested that this could not explain the observed barrier. The angular shape of the distribution could be successfully modeled as a product of differential charging on the solar arrays. This implies that the conductive coating was not completely effective in preventing differential charging, and that differential charging did occur.