Measurements of the potential difference between a pair of symmetrical, spherical, floating probes (14-cm diameter, 5-m baseline) flown on the S(3)-A (Explorer 45) spacecraft (launched November 1971, with apogee 5.2 (R sub e), perigee 222 km, and inclination 3.6 deg) have shown a complicated response to sheath potentials in the region near and inside the plasmapause. Typically, with increasing altitude (1) the sunward sphere will first assume a more negative potential than the antisunward sphere, (1) the polarities of the probes in the region L = 2 to 4 may switch, sometimes several times, and (3) finally, the detector output may saturate (delta phi > 125 mV) with the sunward sphere more negative again. (Author)
Effects of Photoelectron Emission on a Multiple-Probe Spacecraft Near the Plasmapause
1972
23 pages
Report
No indication
English
Thermal plasma near the plasmapause
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