HR: 0800h
AN: SM31A-0240    [Abstracts]
TI: Hybrid Simulations of Energetic Ion Interaction with Mini Magnetospheres
AU: * Gargate, L
EM: luisgargate@ist.utl.pt
AF: GoLP/CFP Instituto Superior Tecnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, Lisbon, 1049, Portugal
AU: Bingham, R
EM: r.bingham@rl.ac.uk
AF: SSTD Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
AU: Fonseca, R
EM: ricardo.fonseca@ist.utl.pt
AF: GoLP/CFP Instituto Superior Tecnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, Lisbon, 1049, Portugal
AU: Bamford, R
EM: r.a.bamford@rl.ac.uk
AF: SSTD Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
AU: Silva, L
EM: luis.silva@ist.utl.pt
AF: GoLP/CFP Instituto Superior Tecnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, Lisbon, 1049, Portugal
AB: Solar energetic ions are a know hazard to both spacecraft electronics and to manned space flights, particularly in space missions that extend over a long period of time like interplanetary missions. In Coronal Mass Ejection and Solar Flare conditions the solar wind can reach speeds up to 2000 km/s and particles with energies ranging from MeV to GeV are produced. An effective protection mechanism for spacecrafts has to deal with these energetic particles as well as the regular solar wind flow, with speeds varying from 400 km/s to 700 km/s, with various density profiles and varying Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) conditions. Laboratory experiments are currently under way to assess the feasibility of using a dipole like magnetic field, possibly in conjunction with a plasma source, to provide effective means of protection against solar energetic ions. Preliminary results show a plasma beam being deflected by a dipole like magnetic field generated by a permanent magnet and a mini magnetosphere being generated. We use a massively parallel 3D hybrid code, dHybrid, with kinetic ions and fluid electrons, to tackle the scenario of the interaction of plasma flows and energetic particle distributions with such dipole like fields. Several densities and velocities of the flowing plasma are considered along with different dipole field intensities. In the different setups, the plasma deflection distance varies and an ion-free bubble is created around the spacecraft. Variations in the IMF direction and intensity are also considered in the simulation setups. Results show the plasma deflection distance increasing with the density and magnetic field intensity, and decreasing with the plasma flow velocity. This simulation scenario is compared against experimental results and extrapolation to space plasma parameters is presented.
DE: 7514 Energetic particles (2114)
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting