Conjugate - Point Studies and Plasma Observations at Six Earth-Radii-Integrated Experiments for a Geostationary Satellite

• Main Author: Pope, Joseph H.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1968
• Subjects: Antarctic; Byrd; Canada; Faraday; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; Great Whale River
• Online Access: https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings/proceedings-1968-5th/session-3/3; https://commons.erau.edu/context/space-congress-proceedings/article/2665/viewcontent/Conjugate_point_studies_and_plasma_observations_at_6_earth_radii___intergrated_experiements_for_a_geostationary_satellite.pdf

For several years the Environmental Science Services Administration Research Laboratories (and its predecessors) has studied a group of auroral zone phenomena at various stations in Canada and the Antarctic. These phenomena (caused by charged particles, electromagnetic waves, and hydromagnetic waves) are often observed simultaneously at both ends (conjugate points) of a magnetic field line. Great Whale River, Canada and Byrd, Antarctica constitute one such pair of conjugate stations. Fortuitously, owing to the inclination of the magnetic field, the field line connecting them crosses the geographic equator at a distance close to the altitude necessary for a synchronous satellite. The experiment proposed involves placing a satellite containing charged particle detectors and magnetic field instrumentation on the Great Whale/Byrd field line in synchronous position. Measurements obtained would be used to establish the relationships between phenomena at the satellite and at the conjugate points on the ground. The satellite would also be Instrumented to measure exospheric electron densities by three methods: l) the density in the vicinity of the satellite would be obtained by a plasma resonance probe; 2) along the field line by whistlers) and 3) integrated between the surface and the satellite by Faraday rotation and Doppler shift of a beacon transmitter. These various density measurements would complement each other to provide a comprehensive determination of the electron density and its variations.