Experimenter's data package for the descending layers rocket

Conference · Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992

OSTI ID:6943015

Earle, G; Herrero, F; Foster, J; Buonsanto, M; Satya-Narayana, P

In response to a proposal from Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), NASA Headquarters has approved a sounding rocket mission designed to study the physics of intermediate layers in the Earth's ionosphere at middle latitudes. The experiment will be carried out by a team of scientists and engineers from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, SAIC, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Millstone Hill radar observatory. The mission will involve the launch of an instrumented sounding rocket from the Wallops Island rocket range in the summer of 1994, with the objective of penetrating a descending ionized layer in the E-region between altitudes of 115 and 140 km. Instrumentation aboard the rocket will measure the ion and neutral composition of the layer, its plasma density, driving wind and electric field forces, the thermal ion distribution function, and electron temperature. Depending on payload weight constraints and subject to availability, a particle detector to measure energetic ion and/or electron fluxes near the layer may also be included. This document was prepared as a reference for the NASA payload development and experiment teams, for distribution at the Project Initiation Conference (PIC). The design specifications discussed herein are therefore of a preliminary nature; the intent is to promote open discussions between experimenters and NASA engineers that will lead to a final design capable of achieving the experiment objectives.

• Research Organization: Science Applications International Corp., McLean, VA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 6943015
• Report Number(s): N-93-16461; NASA-TM-108591; NAS-1.15:108591; CONF-9209323-
• Resource Relation: Conference: Project initiation conference, Wallops Island, VA (United States), 9 Sep 1992
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
E REGION
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
PLASMA DENSITY
IONOSPHERE
AVAILABILITY
CONSTRAINTS
DESIGN
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
NASA
PHYSICS
RADAR
SPACE FLIGHT
SPECIFICATIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
FUNCTIONS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
RANGE FINDERS
US ORGANIZATIONS
661320* - Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magnetospheric Phenomena- (1992-)