Antarctic Mesospheric Clouds Formed From Space Shuttle Exhaust

Abstract

New satellite observations reveal lower thermospheric transport of a space shuttle exhaust plume into the southern hemisphere two days after a January, 2003 launch. A day later, ground-based lidar observations in Antarctica identify iron ablated from the shuttle's main engines. Additional satellite observations of polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) show a burst that constitutes 10-20% of the PMC mass between 65-79 deg S during the 2002-2003 season, comparable to previous results for an Arctic shuttle plume. This shows that shuttle exhaust can be an important global source of both PMC formation and variability.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 06, 2005
Accession Number
ADA521896

Entities

People

  • John M. Plane
  • Matthew T. Deland
  • Michael H. Stevens
  • Robert Meier
  • Xinzhao Chu

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Altitude
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Birds
  • Charge Transfer
  • Chemistry
  • Climate Change
  • Ecology
  • Exhaust Plumes
  • Ground Based
  • High Altitude
  • Ionizing Radiation
  • Military Research
  • Radiation
  • Space Sciences
  • Space Shuttles
  • Spacecraft
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering.
  • Polar and Arctic Studies
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster