The Gaseous and Plasma Environment Around Space Shuttle,

Abstract

A versatile ion/neutral quadrupole mass spectrometer was designed and developed in-house by the Composition Branch of the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory to measure the gaseous and plasma environment around the Space Shuttle. This report briefly describes the instrumentation, the various modes of operation, the data acquisition program and then presents some of the data obtained while operating in the neutral and ion modes. Measurements are presented of thruster firings, water dumps, energetic backscatter phenomena, the temporal behavior of contaminants, the plasma environment's modification by contaminants, ionospheric irregularities and vehicle potential measurements.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 13, 1983
Accession Number
ADA133900

Entities

People

  • D. Delorey
  • E. Trzcinski
  • G. Federico
  • L. Wlodyka
  • R. Narcisi

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Data Acquisition
  • Data Analysis
  • Engines
  • Environment
  • Environmental Pollutants
  • Geophysics
  • Instrumentation
  • Mass Spectrometers
  • Measurement
  • Scattering
  • Space Shuttles
  • Spacecraft
  • Spectrometers
  • Vehicles
  • Water Vapor

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering.
  • Aerospace Propulsion Engineering.
  • Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster