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Feng et al. 1993
Feng, W., Gurnett, D.A. and Cairns, I.H. (1993). Interference patterns in the Spacelab 2 plasma wave data: Lower hybrid waves driven by pickup ions. Journal of Geophysical Research 98. doi: 10.1029/93JA01851. issn: 0148-0227.

During the Spacelab 2 mission the University of Iowa's Plasma Diagnostics Package (PDP) was released from the shuttle to explore the plasma environment around the shuttle. Wideband spectrograms were obtained from the PDP at frequencies from 0 to 30 kHz and distances up to 400 m from the shuttle. The wideband data frequency showed antenna interference patterns when the PDP was on the downstream side of the shuttle. Analysis of these interference patterns allows a determination of the wavelength, the plasma rest frame frequency, the direction of propagation, the power spectrum, and in some cases the location of the source. We concentrate our analysis on interference patterns due to lower hybrid waves: waves which have rest frame frequencies near the lower hybrid frequency and propagate perpendicular to the magnetic field. The waves have an almost flat dispersion relation with frequencies just above the lower hybrid frequency and relatively short wavelengths (1--4 m). The observed lower hybrid waves depend strongly on the position of the PDP relative to the shuttle and the magnetic field direction. Our results confirm previous suggestions that the lower hybrid waves are generated primarily in the vicinity of the shuttle and that they are driven by a charge exchange interaction between the ambient ionosphere and a H2O cloud around the shuttle. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1993

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Ionosphere, Electric fields and currents, Ionosphere, Plasma waves and instabilities, Space Plasma Physics, Kinetic and MHD theory, Space Plasma Physics, Spacecraft sheaths, wakes, charging
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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