Spacecraft Charging and its Impact on Space Missions
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Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics↗
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Fall SULI Report
This fall, I interned under Fan Guo and Xiaocan Li in T-2 at Los Alamos National Laboratory through the SULI program. I investigated how shock thickness is impacted by collisions between particles in plasmas and how particle acceleration in shocks is impacted by the mass ratio for protons and electrons used in simulations. Both investigations were carried out using the VPIC simulation code. I found that collisions do not meaningfully impact shock width and that higher mass ratios lead to somewhat more electron acceleration in shocks. This write-up is in three parts, the first discussing a description of what I was up to personally throughout the fall, the second discussing the results of the collisional shock study, and the third discussing the results of the high mass ratio shock study.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Modeling Electron Acceleration and Transport in 3D Solar Flare Regions
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Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics↗
Plasma Signatures of Small Orbital Debris: LANL Theory and Modeling / Experimental effort.
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Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics↗
Plasma Signatures of Small Orbital Debris: LANL Theory and Modeling / Experimental effort.
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Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics↗
Plasma Signatures of Small Orbital Debris: LANL Theory and Modeling / Experimental effort.
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Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics↗
Cold Plasma IC Report
This past year we completed the simulation campaign in support of our magnetospheric cold plasma research project. This project aimed to develop the next-generation particle instruments to measure the properties of the cold particle populations in the Earth’s magnetosphere.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
Orbital Debris IC Report
We started a simulation campaign in support of our ongoing plasma signatures of small orbital debris project SINTRA program funded by IARPA. This project aims to identify plasma signatures generated by the interaction of small orbital debris (>10cm) with space plasma that can be used for detection, tracking and eventually, develop technologies to remove these small but lethal objects. The small orbital debris problem is increasing exponentially threaten the current and future use of space.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Effects of polarization-reversed EMIC waves on the ring current dynamics
Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves are widely believed to play an important role in influencing the radiation belt and ring current dynamics. Most studies have investigated the effects or characteristics of EMIC waves by assuming their left-handed polarization. However, recent studies have found that the reversal of polarization, which occurs at higher latitudes along the wave propagation path, can change the wave-induced pitch angle diffusion coefficients. Whether such a polarization reversal can influence the global ring current dynamics remains unknown. In this study, we investigate the ring current dynamics and proton precipitation loss in association with polarization-reversed EMIC waves by using the ring current–atmosphere interactions model (RAM). The results indicate that the polarization reversal of H-band EMIC waves can truly decrease the scattering rates of protons of 10 to 50 keV or >100 keV in comparison with the scenario in which the EMIC waves are considered purely left-handed polarized. Additionally, the global ring current intensity and proton precipitation may be slightly affected by the polarization reversal, especially during prestorm time and the recovery phase, but the effects are not large during the main phase. This is probably because the H-band EMIC waves contribute to the proton scattering loss primarily at E < 10 keV, an energy range that is not strongly affected by the polarization reversal.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Plasma Dynamics in Low-Electron-Beta Environments
Recent in situ measurements by the MMS and Parker Solar Probe missions bring interest to small-scale plasma dynamics (waves, turbulence, magnetic reconnection) in regions where the electron thermal energy is smaller than the magnetic one. Examples of such regions are the Earth’s magnetosheath and the vicinity of the solar corona, and they are also encountered in other astrophysical systems. In this brief review, we consider simple physical models describing plasma dynamics in such low-electron-beta regimes, discuss their conservation laws and their limits of applicability.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Do Impulsive Solar-Energetic-Electron (SEE) Events Drive High-Voltage Charging Events on the Nightside of the Moon?
When the Earth’s moon is in the supersonic solar wind, the darkside of the Moon and the lunar plasma wake can be very dangerous charging environments. In the absence of photoelectron emission (dark) and in the absence of cool plasma (wake), the emission or collection of charge to reduce electrical potentials is difficult. Unique extreme charging events may occur during impulsive solar-energetic-electron (SEE) events when the lunar wake is dominated by relativistic electrons, with the potential to charge and differentially charge objects on and above the lunar surface to very-high negative electrical potentials. In this report the geometry of the magnetic connections from the Sun to the lunar nightside are explored; these magnetic connections are the pathways for SEEs from the Sun. Rudimentary charging calculations for objects in the relativistic-electron environment of the lunar wake are performed. To enable these charging calculations, secondary-electron yields for impacts by relativistic electrons are derived. Needed lunar electrical-grounding precautions for SEE events are discussed. Calls are made 1) for future dynamic simulations of the plasma wake in the presence of time-varying SEE-event relativistic electrons and time-varying solar-wind magnetic-field orientations and 2) for future charging calculations in the relativistic-electron wake environment and on the darkside lunar surface.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
A review of instrument techniques to measure magnetospheric cold electrons and ions
A review of the instruments and techniques to directly measure the full distributions of the cold-ion and cold-electron populations in the magnetosphere is presented. Relatively few studies have focused on the cold plasma populations of the magnetosphere due to difficulties associated with obtaining measurements. The cold particle populations are defined here as those with total energy approximately <100 eV which is an energy range for which measurements are difficult (regardless of species), but which often make up the bulk of the plasma density. These populations have known and suspected impacts on the structure and dynamics of the magnetosphere but to date have not yet been measured adequately. The lack of accurate measurements cold ion and electron populations through the magnetosphere makes closure of these science questions extremely difficult if not impossible. Reaching closure will require innovations in plasma spectrometers and associated techniques required to obtain high-fidelity measurements of the cold ion and electron populations in the magnetosphere. This paper seeks to review the instruments and techniques that have been used to date and present possible options for future missions.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
The SpacePy space science package at 12 years
For over a decade, the SpacePy project has contributed open-source solutions for the production and analysis of heliophysics data and simulation results. Here we introduce SpacePy’s functionality for the scientific user and present relevant design principles. We examine recent advances and the future of SpacePy in the broader scientific Python ecosystem, concluding with some of the work that has used SpacePy.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Association of Mesoscale Auroral Structures and Breakups With Energetic Particle Injections at Geosynchronous Orbit
Geomagnetic substorms are associated with characteristic energetic particle injection signatures at geosynchronous orbit that are often dispersionless in both electrons and ions near the magnetic local time sector of auroral onset locations and are dispersed farther away from this region. Although the precise mechanism responsible for the coherent injection signatures at geosynchronous orbit have been the topic on considerable ongoing debate for decades, recent work on bursty bulk flows (BBFs) in the tail have led to the hypothesis that they may be the result of multiple, overlapping flow bursts penetrating into the inner magnetosphere from more distant downtail reconnection sites. Since auroral streamers are thought to be ionospheric signatures of BBFs in the tail, they can be used as proxies for testing this hypothesis. Using high resolution auroral imagery from the POLAR/VIS instrument combined with multi-spacecraft observations of energetic particle injections at geosynchronous orbit, we examine the association of mesoscale auroral structures with particle injection signatures over many hours during the 9 November 1998 storm. We find that the explosive types of auroral activations, such as pseudo-breakups and substorm onset breakups, are associated with the more intense and well-defined dispersed injection signatures, while intervals of isolated streamer activity appear to be associated with smaller dispersed “injectionlet” signatures. Furthermore, intervals of sustained, intense, and late expansion phase/recovery phase streamer activity appear to be associated with sustained elevated dispersed particle fluxes. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that it is the overlapping effects of sustained, intense multiple flow bursts penetrating toward the Earth that result in classical substorm particle injection signatures at geosynchronous orbit. However, it is also suggested that torches/omega-band tongues are the prime fate of braking isolated flow bursts (streamers) rather than the development of breakups, bulges, and substorm current wedge formation. A statistical analysis is presented showing that 93% of the observed torches evolved from streamers, 93% of streamers arriving in the equatorward regions of the bulge led to torches, 10.5% of such streamers led to breakups (either pseudo-breakups or substorm onsets), and only 3.5% of such streamers led to substorm onsets.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
The Need for a System Science Approach to Global Magnetospheric Models
This perspective advocates for the need of a combined system science approach to global magnetospheric models and to spacecraft magnetospheric data to answer the question “Do simulations behave in the same manner as the magnetosphere does?” (instead of the standard validation question “How well do simulations reproduce spacecraft data?”). This approach will 1) validate global magnetospheric models statistically, without the need for a direct comparison against spacecraft data, 2) expose the deficiencies of the models, and 3) provide physics support to the system analysis performed on the magnetospheric system.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Pitch-Angle Diffusion in the Earth’s Magnetosphere Organized by the Mozer-Transformed Coordinate System
In the Earth’s dipole magnetosphere finite-gyroradius effects produce a shift of the atmospheric loss cone away from the direction of the magnetic field. This loss-cone shift is theoretically described by the “Mozer transform”, which is based upon the curvature drift of particles crossing the equatorial plane. For positive ions the northern and southern loss cones both shift westward and for electrons the northern and southern loss cones both shift eastward. This loss-cone shift is part of a coordinate-system transform, with the transformed coordinates better organizing the behavior of particle orbits in the dipole magnetic field (e.g. first adiabatic invariants, mirror heights, and bounce times). In this report it is demonstrated that the transformed coordinate system also properly organizes pitch-angle diffusion. This improved organization of the diffusion is true whether the angular scattering is produced by plasma-wave scattering or by field-line-curvature (FLC) scattering. It is shown that FLC scattering and the loss cone shift are linked, so that if FLC scattering is occurring, there is a loss cone shifted away from the magnetic-field direction and the Mozer-transformed coordinates are needed.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Plasma Imaging, LOcal Measurement, and Tomographic Experiment (PILOT): A Mission Concept for Transformational Multi-Scale Observations of Mass and Energy Flow Dynamics in Earth’s Magnetosphere
We currently do not understand the fundamental physical processes that govern mass and energy flow through the Earth’s magnetosphere. Knowledge of these processes is critical to understanding the mass loss rate of Earth’s atmosphere, as well as for determining the role that a planetary magnetic field plays in atmospheric retention, and therefore habitability, for Earth-like planets beyond the solar system. Mass and energy flow processes are challenging to determine at Earth in part because Earth’s planetary magnetic field creates a complex “system of systems” composed of interdependent plasma populations and overlapping spatial regions that perpetually exchange mass and energy across a broad range of temporal and spatial scales. Further, the primary mass carrier in the magnetosphere is cold plasma (as cold as ~0.1 eV), which is invisible to many space-borne instruments that operate in the inner magnetosphere. The Plasma Imaging LOcal and Tomographic experiment (PILOT) mission concept, described here, provides the transformational multi-scale observations required to answer fundamental open questions about mass and energy flow dynamics in the Earth’s magnetosphere. PILOT uses a constellation of spacecraft to make radio tomographic, remote sensing, and in-situ measurements simultaneously, fully capturing cold plasma mass dynamics and its impact on magnetospheric systems over an unprecedented range of spatial and temporal scales. This article details the scientific motivation for the PILOT mission concept as well as a potential mission implementation.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Modeling of the cold electron plasma density for radiation belt physics
This review focusses strictly on existing plasma density models, including ionospheric source models, empirical density models, physics-based and machine-learning density models. This review is framed in the context of radiation belt physics and space weather codes. The review is limited to the most commonly used models or to models recently developed and promising. A great variety of conditions is considered such as the magnetic local time variation, geomagnetic conditions, ionospheric source regions, radial and latitudinal dependence, and collisional vs. collisionless conditions. These models can serve to complement satellite observations of the electron plasma density when data are lacking, are for most of them commonly used in radiation belt physics simulations and can improve our understanding of the plasmasphere dynamics.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗