HR: 09:30h
AN: P41B-07    [Abstracts]
TI: Modeling of the Interaction Between the Induced Magnetosphere of Venus and the Solar Wind During the MESSENGER Flyby.
AU: * Benna, M
EM: Mehdi.Benna@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AU: Slavin, J A
EM: James.A.Slavin@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AU: Acuña, M H
EM: Mario.H.Acuna@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AU: Anderson, B J
EM: Brian.Anderson@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, United States
AU: Barabash, S
EM: stas@irf.se
AF: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 812, Kiruna, 98128, Sweden
AU: Boardsen, S A
EM: Scott.A.Boardsen@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AU: Gloeckler, G
EM: gglo@umich.edu
AF: Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Science Department, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
AU: Ho, G C
EM: george.ho@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, United States
AU: Korth, H
EM: Haje.Korth@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, United States
AU: Krimigis, S M
EM: Tom.Krimigis@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, United States
AU: McNutt, R L
EM: Ralph.McNutt@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, United States
AU: Raines, J M
EM: jraines@umich.edu
AF: Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Science Department, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
AU: Sarantos, M
EM: Menelaos.Sarantos@nasa,gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AU: Solomon, S C
EM: scs@dtm.ciw.edu
AF: Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road, N.W., Washington, DC 20015, United States
AU: Zhang, T
EM: Tielong.Zhang@oeaw.ac.at
AF: Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstraße 6, Graz, 8042, Austria
AU: Zurbuchen, T H
EM: thomasz@umich.edu
AF: Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Science Department, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
AB: MESSENGER's second flyby of Venus on 5 June 2007 represents one of the key events in the spacecraft's journey toward Mercury. The favorable geometry of MESSENGER's trajectory and the presence of Venus Express in orbit around the planet provided a unique opportunity to make multi-point observations of solar wind interactions with Venus. To help understand the data gathered during this important milestone, we modeled the induced magnetosphere of Venus and its interaction with the solar wind at the time of the MESSENGER encounter with the planet. This paper reports the results of this modeling effort, shows the ionospheric conditions encountered by MESSENGER and Venus Express at the time of the flyby, and provides a comparison with the Magnetometer instrument data. Our model uses the capabilities of the time-dependant multi-fluid magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical code that was developed during the past few years to study the interaction of the solar wind with unmagnetized bodies. This code is based on a three-fluid approach where ions, neutrals, and electrons are considered as separate interacting fluids. The MHD equations relative to these three fluids are solved using an adaptive Cartesian grid that is refined or relaxed as needed.
DE: 2780 Solar wind interactions with unmagnetized bodies
DE: 6295 Venus
DE: 7829 Kinetic waves and instabilities
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting