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POLAR 5 - An electron accelerator experiment within an aurora. III - Evidence for significant spacecraft charging by an electron accelerator at ionospheric altitudesThe POLAR 5 rocket experiment carried an electron accelerator on a 'daughter' payload which injected a 0.1 A beam of 10 keV electrons in a pulsed mode every 410 ms. With spin and precession, injections were made over a wide range of pitch angles. Measurements from a double probe electric field instrument and from particle detectors on the 'mother' payload and from a crude RPA on the 'daughter' payload are interpreted to indicate that the 'daughter' charges to a potential between several hundred volts and 1 kV. The neutralizing return current to the 'daughter' is shown to be asymmetrically distributed with the majority being collected from the direction of the beam. The additional electrons necessary to neutralize the daughter are thought to be produced and heated through beam-plasma interactions postulated by Maehlum et al. (1980) and Grandal et al. (1980) to explain the particle and optical measurements. Significant electric fields emanating from the charged 'daughter' and the beam are seen at distances exceeding 100 m at the 'mother' payload.
Document ID
19800052751
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Jacobsen, T. A.
(Forsvarets Forskningsinstitutt Kjeller, Norway)
Maynard, N. C.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Laboratory for Planetary Atmospheres, Greenbelt, Md., United States)
Date Acquired
August 10, 2013
Publication Date
March 1, 1980
Publication Information
Publication: Planetary and Space Science
Volume: 28
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Accession Number
80A36921
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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