In the rocket experiment CRIT I, launched from Wallops Island on May 13, 1986, two identical Barium-shaped charges were fired from distances of 1.3 km and 3.6 km towards the main experiment payload, which was separated from a sub-payload by a couple of km along the magnetic field. The relevance of earlier proposed mechanisms for electron heating in ionospheric critical velocity experiments is investigated in the light of the CRIT I results. It is concluded that both the 'homogeneous' and the 'ionizing front' models can be applied, in different parts of the stream. It is also possible that a third, entirely different, mechanism may contribute to the electron heating. This mechanism involves direct energization of electrons in the magnetic-field-aligned component of the dc electric field.
Critical ionization velocity interaction in the CRIT I rocket experiment
Advances in Space Research ; 10 , 7, 19
1990-01-01
Miscellaneous
No indication
English
Critical ionization velocity interaction in the CRIT I rocket experiment
Elsevier | 1989
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