HR: 1330h
AN: SA12B-1107    [PDF]
TI: Observations of vehicle charging in dusty plasma
AU: * Barjatya, A
EM: Arohb@cc.usu.edu
AF: Utah State University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 4120 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322
AU: Swenson, C
EM: Charles.Swenson@usu.edu
AF: Utah State University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 4120 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322
AB: The NASA Sudden Atom Layer (SAL) rocket was launched in February of 1998 from Puerto Rico into an approximately 5 km thick sodium layer that peaked at 94 km altitude. This layer was observed from ground based lidar as well as the Arecibo Radar. The instrument payload consisted of a charged dust detector, an electric field probe, a DC Langmuir probe, and a RF impedance probe. The instruments experienced an anomalous charging event as the rocket passed through this sodium layer. We present here an analysis of the DC Langmuir probe data and the RF impedance probe data to compute the amount of vehicle charging attributed to charged dust. Possible scenarios that could lead to the observed charging effects on the instruments are investigated using a novel SPICE model. The model development and its features are also presented in this paper. Finally, our findings are also compared with those of the dust detector.
DE: 2439 Ionospheric irregularities
DE: 2443 Midlatitude ionosphere
DE: 2483 Wave/particle interactions
DE: 2494 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA - Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting