Solar and Space Physics A Science for a Technological Society (2013) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix C: Toward a Diversified, Distributed Sensor Deployment Strategy
Appendix C: Toward a Diversified, Distributed Sensor Deployment Strategy
Pages 342-350
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From page 342... ...
For example, sounding rockets provide the only means for in situ sampling in regions inaccessible to aircraft, balloons, or satellite platforms.1 Ground-based facilities offer an entirely different, but no less necessary, "platform" for solar and space physics research and long-term observations. Finally, there are unique opportunities for solar and space physics research to be carried out by instruments hosted on commercial and government space platforms that carry payloads for other purposes.
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From page 343... ...
Other processes provide diagnostics of naturally occurring ionospheric phenomena and of natural rate constants that are otherwise hard to quantify. Ionospheric modification experiments affect the propagation of radio signals passing through the modified volume, which is how the phenomenon was first discovered (i.e,.
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From page 344... ...
The committee regards this kind of interagency cooperation as a model to be followed for the utilization of existing ionospheric modification facilities as well as the planning and development of new ones. Another recent, important development is the emergence of Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR)
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From page 345... ...
Combining such a neutral gas measurement capability with existing altitude-resolved plasma measurements provided by the incoherent scatter radar technique, along with other complementary instrumentation, would further broaden the potential for scientific discovery in areas of ion-neutral thermal and momentum exchange, Hall and Pedersen conductivity behavior, neutral wind effects on current flow and dissipation, neutral wind dynamo processes, and ion-neutral chemical interactions. HOSTED PAYLOADS ON COMMERCIAL AND GOVERNMENT PLATFORMS There are opportunities to leverage distributed systems for commercial and government use by adding sensors and finding secondary uses of data from these systems, in the context of breakthrough science investigations of solar and space physics.
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From page 346... ...
Scientific payloads launched on sounding rockets provide the only means to gather data along nearly vertical profiles and are the only platforms capable of in situ sampling of the mesosphere and lower ionosphere regions (40-150 km altitude) , which constitute Earth's critical interface region between the atmosphere and space.
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From page 347... ...
. These new platforms would enable significantly longer observing times for solar missions that track developing features on the solar disk, as well as enable direct penetration of the cusp and auroral acceleration regions and also the inner radiation belt, by geospace missions.
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From page 348... ...
will pursue science goals, including studies of lightning-induced terrestrial gamma rays; electromagnetic emissions near ionospheric radar beams; mechanisms responsible for relativistic electron microbursts; energetic radiation belt electrons; electrons, ions, and neutral atoms in the ionosphere; ionneutral coupling in the ionosphere; and the atmospheric density response in the thermosphere to extreme forcing. The NSF CubeSat program is substantially oversubscribed.
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From page 349... ...
With the advent of small CubeSats and tiny Explorers, novel means of investigations are enabled that have the potential to provide an unprecedented density of measurements in the upper atmosphere and elsewhere. Illustrative Examples of Newly Enabled Constellations Magnetosphere Radiation Belt Constellation A 6- to 12-month database of continuous ultralow-frequency measurements of the azimuthal mode number spectrum would provide a critical missing piece of information for radiation belt modelers.
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From page 350... ...
Global GPS networks have provided a synoptic view of ionospheric storms that emphasizes how different physical processes and regional features work in concert to create the "global ionospheric storm." GPS networks operate continuously so that no special coordination is needed as part of a heterogeneous facility. However, significant questions regarding the physical processes causing the storm-time dynamics requires unraveling coordinated observations.
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