Results of Magnetospheric Barium Ion Cloud Experiment of 1971
David Adamson · Clifford Lynn Fricke · Sheila Ann T. Long
Jan 1975 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Ebook
60
Pages
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About this ebook
The NASA-Max Planck Institute Barium Ion Cloud (BIC) Experiment, performed on September 21, 1971, at 3:04:52 u.t., involved the release of about 2 kg of barium at an altitude of 31,482 km, a latitude of 6.926° N., and a longitude of 74.395° W. Significant erosion of plasma from the main ion core occurred during the initial phase of the ion-cloud expansion. From the motion of the outermost striational filaments, the electric-field components were determined to be 0.19 mV/m in the westerly direction and 0.68 mV/m in the inward direction. The differences between these components and those measured from balloons flown in the proximity of the extremity of the field line through the release point implied the existence of potential gradients predicted. This was attributed to the formation of a polarization wake, resulting in an increase of the area of interaction and resistive dissipation at ionospheric levels. The actual orientation of the magnetic field line through the release point, as delineated by the ion cloud, differed by about 10.5° from that predicted by magnetic-field models that did not include the effect of ring current. There was no evidence of enhanced particle precipitation resulting from cloud deposition. An increase in the rate of elongation observed during the first 5 minutes may have resulted from a resonant cyclotron instability between the gyrating ions and extremely low frequency waves.
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