Ionospheric Measurements using Environmental Sampling Techniques
Abstract
Two rockets were flown to peak altitudes of 220 km in Sept 1959 to test various methods planned for the future measurements of the ionization parameters in the ionosphere, exosphere and interplanetary plasma. All the experiments described used techniques which sample the ambient environment in the immediate vicinity of the research vehicle. These direct methods were chosen, since indirect propagation techniques do not provide the temperatures of charged particles, are insensitive to ion densities, and cannot measure local electron densities under all conditions. Very encouraging results have been obtained from a preliminary analysis of the data from one of the two flights. A new rf probe technique was successfully used to determine the electron density profile as indicated by its agreement with the results of a companion cw propagation experiment, particularly when the probe data are corrected for the effects of the ion sheath which surrounds the vehicle. The characteristics of this sheath were determined directly in flight by an electric field meter which provided the sheath field, and by a Langmuir probe which measured the total potential across the sheath. Electron temperatures deduced from the Langmuir probe are greater than the neural gas temperature values previously measured for the same location and season, but possibly under different atmospheric conditions. Ion densities were calculated from the ion trap data for several altitudes ranging from 130 to 210 km and were found to be within 20 percent of the measured electron densities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 16, 1960
- Accession Number
- ADB193543
Entities
People
- G. P. Serbu
- J. A. Kane
- J. E. Jackson
- R. E. Bourdeau
Organizations
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration