Magnesium Chemistry in the Upper Atmosphere

Abstract

Metallic species are deposited into the Earth's upper atmosphere by the ablation of approximately 50 tonnes of interplanetary dust that enters the atmosphere each day. The dust undergoes frictional heating to its melting point (approx. 1800 K), after which metallic species ablate and are deposited in the mesosphere-lower thermosphere (MLT) region of the atmosphere (70-120 km). Magnesium is one of the most abundant metals in the MLT, with layers of Mg+ being observed by rocket-borne mass spectrometry and satellite observations of the earth's dayglow.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 20, 2010
Accession Number
ADA535001

Entities

People

  • John M. Plane

Organizations

  • University of Leeds

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Counter WMD
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Satellites
  • Chemical Kinetics
  • Chemistry
  • Dissociation
  • Dye Lasers
  • Laser Applications
  • Laser Beams
  • Laser Induced Fluorescence
  • Lasers
  • Mass Spectrometers
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Measurement
  • Metals
  • Physical Chemistry
  • Quantum Mechanics
  • Spectrometry
  • Spectroscopy

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster