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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

The ionosphere and upper atmosphere of Venus

A summary is presented of current understanding of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere of Venus and its interaction with the solar wind, based on data from the Mariner 5 and Mariner 10 fly-bys and on far UV spectra obtained in rocket experiments. The major constituent of the upper atmosphere is CO2. Minor constituents include H, He, O, C, and CO and probably N2, Cl, and S. Although the thermal escape rate is only about 10,000/sq cm/sec, the H content in the exosphere appears to be highly variable. A prominent peak in the ionosphere profile near 140 km, appearing both on the day and nightside, is identified as an F(1) layer. An E layer and possibly an F(2) layer are present at 125 and 170 km, respectively. The dayside ionosphere may be explained in terms of the absorption of solar radiation by CO2, O, and He. The transport of ions from day to nightside may be important in the formation of the nightside ionosphere; an additional source may be needed to explain the nightside E layer. There is observational evidence that the solar wind interacts directly with the Venusian atmosphere, resulting in the formation of a bow shock. This may in part be explained by a balance at the ionopause between the solar wind ram pressure and the planetary plasma pressure.

Kumar, S.↗
NASA NTRS1987

A magnetohydrodynamic model of the interaction of the solar wind with the Jovian magnetosphere and a magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the interaction of the solar wind with the out flowing plasma from a comet

A three-dimensional code for a rapidly rotating magnetosphere in which the MHD equations and the Maxwell equations were solved by using the two step Lax Endroff scheme, was developed. Preliminary results were presented at the Fall AGU meeting in San Francisco. The basic simulation model to study the solar wind interactions was adapted to other bodies in addition to Jupiter. Because of the recent comet flybys, a comet was chosen as the first model. The aim was to model the formation of the contact surface and the plasma tail. Later, work was begun on a three-dimensional model which would include the effects of mass loading. This model was designed to study the weak cometary bow shocks observed by the probes to comets Halley and Giacobini-Zinner. The model was successful in reproducing the position and shape of the bow shock which was determined by using observations from the Suisei spacecraft.

Walker, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS2008

MESSENGER Observations of Mercury's Bow Shock and Magnetopause

MESSENGER'S 14 January 2008 encounter with Mercury will provide the first new observations of the solar wind interaction with this planet since the Mariner 10 flybys that took place over 30 years ago. The closest approach distance for this first MESSENGER flyby is targeted for an altitude of 200 km as compared with the 707 km and 327 km attained by Mariner 10 on 29 March 1974 and 16 March 1975, respectively. The locations of the bow shock and magnetopause boundaries observed by MESSENGER will be examined and compared against those found in the earlier Mariner 10 measurements and the predictions of theoretical models and numerical simulations. The structure of the magnetopause will be investigated for the presence of flux transfer events or other evidence of magnetic reconnection as will the more general implications of these new MESSENGER bow shock and magnetopause observations for the global solar wind interaction with Mercury.

Slavin, James A.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Mercury's Weather-Beaten Surface: Understanding Mercury in the Context of Lunar and Asteroidal Space Weathering Studies

Mercury's regolith, derived from the crustal bedrock, has been altered by a set of space weathering processes. Before we can interpret crustal composition, it is necessary to understand the nature of these surface alterations. The processes that space weather the surface are the same as those that form Mercury's exosphere (micrometeoroid flux and solar wind interactions) and are moderated by the local space environment and the presence of a global magnetic field. To comprehend how space weathering acts on Mercury's regolith, an understanding is needed of how contributing processes act as an interactive system. As no direct information (e.g., from returned samples) is available about how the system of space weathering affects Mercury's regolith, we use as a basis for comparison the current understanding of these same processes on lunar and asteroidal regoliths as well as laboratory simulations. These comparisons suggest that Mercury's regolith is overturned more frequently (though the characteristic surface time for a grain is unknown even relative to the lunar case), more than an order of magnitude more melt and vapor per unit time and unit area is produced by impact processes than on the Moon (creating a higher glass content via grain coatings and agglutinates), the degree of surface irradiation is comparable to or greater than that on the Moon, and photon irradiation is up to an order of magnitude greater (creating amorphous grain rims, chemically reducing the upper layers of grains to produce nanometer scale particles of metallic iron, and depleting surface grains in volatile elements and alkali metals). The processes that chemically reduce the surface and produce nanometer-scale particles on Mercury are suggested to be more effective than similar processes on the Moon. Estimated abundances of nanometer-scale particles can account for Mercury's dark surface relative to that of the Moon without requiring macroscopic grains of opaque minerals. The presence of nanometer-scale particles may also account for Mercury's relatively featureless visible-near-infrared reflectance spectra. Characteristics of material returned from asteroid 25143 Itokawa demonstrate that this nanometer-scale material need not be pure iron, raising the possibility that the nanometer-scale material on Mercury may have a composition different from iron metal [such as (Fe,Mg)S]. The expected depletion of volatiles and particularly alkali metals from solar-wind interaction processes are inconsistent with the detection of sodium, potassium, and sulfur within the regolith. One plausible explanation invokes a larger fine fraction (grain size less than 45 micron) and more radiation-damaged grains than in the lunar surface material to create a regolith that is a more efficient reservoir for these volatiles. By this view the volatile elements detected are present not only within the grain structures, but also as adsorbates within the regolith and deposits on the surfaces of the regolith grains. The comparisons with findings from the Moon and asteroids provide a basis for predicting how compositional modifications induced by space weathering have affected Mercury's surface composition.

Weathering↗
NASA NTRS2016

TEM Analyses of Itokawa Regolith Grains and Lunar Soil Grains to Directly Determine Space Weathering Rates on Airless Bodies

Samples returned from the moon and Asteroid Itokawa by NASA's Apollo Missions and JAXA's Hayabusa Mission, respectively, provide a unique record of their interaction with the space environment. Space weathering effects result from micrometeorite impact activity and interactions with the solar wind. While the effects of solar wind interactions, ion implantation and solar flare particle track accumulation, have been studied extensively, the rate at which these effects accumulate in samples on airless bodies has not been conclusively determined. Results of numerical modeling and experimental simulations do not converge with observations from natural samples. We measured track densities and rim thicknesses of three olivine grains from Itokawa and multiple olivine and anorthite grains from lunar soils of varying exposure ages. Samples were prepared for analysis using a Leica EM UC6 ultramicrotome and an FEI Quanta 3D dual beam focused ion beam scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM). Transmission electron microscope (TEM) analyses were performed on the JEOL 2500SE 200kV field emission STEM. The solar wind damaged rims on lunar anorthite grains are amorphous, lack inclusions, and are compositionally similar to the host grain. The rim width increases as a smooth function of exposure age until it levels off at approximately 180 nm after approximately 20 My (Fig. 1). While solar wind ion damage can only accumulate while the grain is in a direct line of sight to the Sun, solar flare particles can penetrate to mm-depths. To assess whether the track density accurately predicts surface exposure, we measured the rim width and track density in olivine and anorthite from the surface of rock 64455, which was never buried and has a surface exposure age of 2 My based on isotopic measurements. The rim width from 64455 (60-70nm) plots within error of the well-defined trend for solar wind amorphized rims in Fig. 1. Measured solar flare track densities are accurately reflecting the surface exposure of the grains. Track densities correlate with the amorphous rim thicknesses. While the space-weathered rims of anorthite grains are amorphous, the space-weathered rims on both Itokawa and lunar olivine grains show solar wind damaged rims that are not amorphous. Instead, the rims are nanocrystalline with high dislocation densities and sparse inclusions of nanophase Fe metal. The rim thicknesses on the olivine grains also correlate with track density. The Itokawa olivine grains have track densities that indicate surface exposures of approximately 10(exp 5) years. Longer exposures (up to approximately 10(exp 7) years) do not amorphize the rims, as evidenced by lunar soil olivines with high track densities (approximately 10(exp 11) cm(exp -2)). From the combined data, shown in Fig. 1, it is clear that olivine is damaged (but not amorphized) more rapidly by the solar wind compared to anorthite. The olivine damaged rim forms quickly (in approximately 10(exp 6) y) and saturates at approximately 120nm with longer exposure time. The anorthite damaged rims form more slowly, amorphize, and grow thicker than the olivine rims. This is in agreement with numerical modeling data which predicts that solar wind damaged rims on anorthite will be thicker than olivine. However, the models predict that both olivine and anorthite rims will amorphize and reach equilibrium widths in less than 10(exp 3) y, in contrast to what is observed for natural samples. Laboratory irradiation experiments, which show rapid formation of fully amorphous and blistered surfaces from simulated solar wind exposures are also in contrast to observations of natural samples. These results suggest that there is a flux dependence on the type and extent of irradiation damage that develops in olivine. This flux dependence suggests that great caution be used in extrapolating between high-flux laboratory experiments and the natural case, as demonstrated by. We constrain the space weathering rate through analysis of returned samples. Provided that the track densities and the solar wind damaged rim widths exhibited by the Itokawa grains are typical of the fine-grained regions of Itokawa, then the space weathering rate is on the order of 10(exp 5) y. Space weathering effects in lunar soils saturate within a few My of exposure while those in Itokawa regolith grains formed in approximately 10(exp 5) y. Olivine and anorthite respond differently to solar wind irradiation. The space weathering effects in olivine are particularly difficult to reconcile with laboratory irradiation studies and numerical models. Additional measurements, experiments, and modeling are required to resolve the discrepancies among the observations and calculations involving solar wind amorphization of different minerals on airless bodies.

Berger, Eve L.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Pioneer Venus plasma wave observations - The solar-wind-Venus interaction

The Pioneer Venus plasma wave instrument is described with a discussion of wave observations throughout the typical near-noon and near-midnight orbits. This is followed by a comparison of the bow shock turbulence characteristics at earth and at Venus. The wave-particle interactions detected near the dayside ionopause are analyzed showing that the whistler mode Landau damping develops when the B field direction changes so that the whistler becomes oblique.

Scarf, F. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Application of a global solar wind/planetary obstacle interaction computational model: Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn studies

This work relates to a series of collaborative investigations involving the application of a computational model for the determination of the detailed plasma and magnetic field properties associated with the global interaction of the solar wind with various planetary obstacles throughout the solar system. The theoretical method is based on an established single fluid, steady, dissipationless, magnetohydrodynamic continuum model, and is appropriate for the calculation of supersonic, super-Alfvenic solar wind flow past planetary obstacles. The investigations undertaken relate to studies of various solar wind interaction phenomena with Venus, Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Stahara, S. S.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Anomalous transport by magnetohydrodynamic Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction

The high latitude, or downstream flank, and dayside low latitude magnetospheric boundaries are modeled in an MHD simulation of Kelvin-Helmholtz instablities in a compressible plasma for parallel and transverse configurations. Detailed attention is given to the nonlinear consequences of the instabilities for several different Alfven and sound Mach numbers in both configurations. Emphasis is given to the anomalous transport of momentum and energy by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities across the magnetospheric boundary, which is crucial in evaluating the instabilities' contribution to magnetospheric convection. It is concluded that the anomalous tangential stress at the magnetospheric boundary caused by the instability may be of the order of 1 percent of the magnetosheath flow momentum adjacent to the boundary, and gives a contribution to the convection potential drop over the polar cap of 10-30 kV.

Miura, A.↗
NASA NTRS1985

An MHD model of the earth's magnetosphere

It is pointed out that the earth's magnetosphere arises from the interaction of the solar wind with the earth's geomagnetic field. A global magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model of the earth's magnetosphere has drawn much attention in recent years. In this model, MHD equations are used to describe the solar wind interaction with the magnetosphere. In the present paper, some numerical aspects of the model are considered. Attention is given to the ideal MHD equations, an equation of state for the plasma, the model as an initial- and boundary-value problem, the shock capturing technique, computational requirements and techniques for global MHD modeling, a three-dimensional mesh system employed in the global MHD model, and some computational results.

Wu, C. C.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A model of Comet P/Giacobini-Zinner

A computer model of Comet P/Giacobini-Zinner is presented which contains photoprocesses, gas-phase chemical kinetics, energy balance, multifluid hydrodynamics with a transition to free molecular flow, and solar wind interaction. Recently the physics for electrons in the model has been improved by including electron impact ionization and dissociation and separately accounting for electron energetics. Electron heating and cooling mechanisms include photoprocesses, recombination processes, inelastic and elastic collisions with heavy molecules, and expansion cooling. The model incorporates an internally consistent interaction of the solar wind with the coma gas using the axisymmetric ideal fluid dynamic equations. The nuclear size and composition have been chosen to make the calculations relevant to the September 11, 1985 International Cometary Explorer (ICE) encounter with Comet P/Giacobini-Zinner. Model profiles of the temperature, velocity, and number density of the electrons are in good agreement with measurements along ICE's trajectory. The results indicate the probe passed through a region of the coma at the onset of the plasma tail.

Boice, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Rain waves-wind waves interaction application to scatterometry

Modulation of a rain wave pattern by longer waves has been studied. An analytical model taking into account capillarity effects and obliquity of short waves has been developed. Modulation rates in wave number and amplitude have been computed. Experiments were carried out in a wave tank. First results agree with theoretical models, but higher values of modulation rates are measured. These results could be taken into account for understanding the radar response from the sea surface during rain.

Kharif, C.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Structure of the magnetopause current layer at the subsolar point

Attention is given to a 1D electromagnetic particle simulation model developed for the magnetopause current layer between the shocked solar wind and the dipole magnetic field at the subsolar point, which was extended to include the IMF in the solar wind. Interaction of the solar wind with the vacuum dipole field as well as the dipole field filled with a low-density magnetospheric plasma are investigated. The width and structure of the magnetopause current layer are found to differ markedly depending on the direction of the IMF. When the IMF is pointing southward, the current layer between the solar wind and the dipole field is narrow, and the magnetic field has a single ramp structure caused by the reflection of the solar wind at that point. The current layer becomes several times wider and the magnetic field develops a multiple ramp structure when the IMF is northward. Comparisons of these simulation results with the recent spacecraft data of the magnetopause crossing near the subsolar point are provided.

Okuda, H.↗
NASA NTRS2008

The Lunar X-ray Observatory (LXO)

X-ray emission from charge exchange recombination between the highly ionized solar wind and neutral material i n Earth's magnetosheath has complicated x-ray observations of celestial objects with x-ray observatories including ROSAT, Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Suzaku. However, the charge-exchange emission can also be used as an important diagnostic of the solar-wind interacting with the magnetosheath. Soft x-ray observations from low-earth orbit or even the highly eccentric orbits of Chandra and XMM-Newton are likely superpositions of the celestial object of interest, the true extra-solar soft x-ray background, geospheric charge exchange, and heliospheric charge exchange. We show that with a small x-ray telescope placed either on the moon, in a similar vein as the Apollo ALSOP instruments, or at a stable orbit near L1, we can begin t o disentangle the complicated emission structure in the soft x-ray band. Here we present initial results of a feasibility study recently funded by NASA t o place a small x-ray telescope on the lunar surface. The telescope operates during lunar night to observe charge exchange interactions between the solar wind and magnetospheric neutrals, between the solar wind and the lunar atmosphere, and an unobstructed view of the soft x-ray background without the geospheric component.

Porter, F. Scott↗
NASA NTRS1990

On the formation of ansae in planetary nebulae

Formation mechanisms for the two optical bright knots in planetary nebulae, 'ansae', are investigated. Adiabatic two-dimensional numerical simulations of the interacting winds flow at early stages of the planetary nebulae evolution are performed. It is found that no real focusing of the shocked fast wind material toward the symmetry axis occurs, and thus the interaction of winds by itself will not form the ansae. A model is proposed, in which jets from the central star form the ansae. These jets are presumably being formed during the few hundred years in the period between the end of the slow wind and the beginning of the fast wind. It is shown that a companion to the progenitor red giant can lead to the degree of asymmetry observed in elliptical planetary nebulae.

Soker, Noam↗
NASA NTRS1981

Interaction of comets with the interplanetary medium

The interaction of solar radiation and the solar wind with a comet as it moves around the sun is discussed. The overall structure of the comet-solar wind interaction, which is believed to give rise to a tangential discontinuity surface excluding the solar wind from the cometary ionosphere, a collisionless bow shock serving to decelerate and divert the solar wind, and a weak outer shock, is considered. The variable nature of the interaction as the comet moves around the sun and as solar wind conditions vary is then examined. It is shown that the cometary neutrals play a dominant role in standing off the solar wind, particularly under quiet conditions, making the cometary ionosphere in general highly incompressible. Conditions are found under which cometary neutrals cannot penetrate the ionopause to interact with the solar wind, and the inner shock becomes a hybrid ion-neutral shock. Finally, consideration of the direct interaction of the solar wind and solar ultraviolet radiation with the cometary nucleus indicates that electrostatic charging of the surface is capable of causing transport and blow-off of cometary dust at large heliocentric distances.

Mendis, D. A.↗