HR: 0800h
AN: SA31A-1118    [Abstracts]
TI: Calibration of the Plasma Impedance Probe for the EQUIS II Sounding Rocket Campaign.
AU: * Ward, J
EM: jward@cc.usu.edu
AF: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, 4120 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322 United States
AU: Swenson, C
EM: charles.swenson@ece.usu.edu
AF: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, 4120 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322 United States
AU: Fish, C
EM: chad.fish@sdl.usu.edu
AF: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, 4120 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322 United States
AU: Carlson, C
EM: ccarlso2@uiuc.usu
AF: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, 4120 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322 United States
AB: Two Plasma Impedance Probes (PIP) made nighttime measurements of the low latitude ionosphere as part of the EQUIS II sounding rocket campaign. The rockets were launched from Kwajalein on August 7th and 15th and reached 450 km in altitude. These probes operate by sensing the input impedance of an antenna immersed in the ionospheric plasma. Each probe made measurements using two different antenna geometries, a traditional monopole antenna and a patch antenna located on the rocket surface. There are several analytic theories for the impedance of monopole or dipole antenna in a space plasma. There are no analytic theories for a patch antenna. Utah State has developed a Plasma Fluid Finite Difference Time Domain (PF-FDTD) simulation that can be used to model various antenna geometries. Antenna impedance data from both geometries are presented and compared with analytic and the PF-FDTD simulation. Preliminary results of the extraction of electron density, electron neutral collision frequency, and electron temperature along the rocket trajectory are presented.
DE: 2494 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting