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A high‐altitude barium radial injection experiment
Author(s) -
Wescott E. M.,
StenbaekNielsen H. C.,
Hallinan T. J.,
Deehr C. S.,
Romick G. J.,
Olson J. V.,
Roederer J. G.,
Sydora R.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl007i012p01037
Subject(s) - barium , detonation , explosive material , rocket (weapon) , physics , plane (geometry) , spiral (railway) , plasma , perpendicular , atomic physics , materials science , mechanics , aerospace engineering , chemistry , nuclear physics , geometry , mathematical analysis , mathematics , organic chemistry , engineering , metallurgy
A rocket launched from Poker Flat, Alaska, carried a new type of high‐explosive barium shaped charge to 571 km, where detonation injected a thin disk of barium vapor with high velocity nearly perpendicular to the magnetic field. The TV images of the injection are spectacular, revealing three major regimes of expanding plasma which showed early instabilities in the neutral gas. The most unusual effect of the injection is a peculiar rayed barium‐ion structure lying in the injection plane and centered on a 5 km "black hole" surrounding the injection point. Preliminary electrostatic computer simulations show a similar rayed development.