Premium
Modulated beam injection from the space shuttle during magnetic conjunctions of STS 3 with the DE 1 satellite
Author(s) -
Inan U. S.,
Pon M.,
Banks P. M.,
Williamson P. R.,
Raitt W. J.,
Shawhan S. D.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1029/rs019i002p00487
Subject(s) - whistler , physics , satellite , rocket (weapon) , wideband , modulation (music) , beam (structure) , electron , optics , acoustics , aerospace engineering , nuclear physics , engineering , astronomy
An electron beam emitted from the Office of Space Sciences 1 pallet on STS 3 was pulsed with specially designed very low frequency (VLF) formats in an attempt to generate whistler mode waves. Modulated operations of the beam emitted by a fast pulse electron generator (FPEG) were initiated during times of magnetic conjunctions between STS 3 and the high‐altitude DE 1 satellite equipped with broadband VLF receivers. Coordinated FPEG/VLF modulation and DE 1 wideband data acquisition were achieved in 12 different cases. No evidence of any waves generated by FPEG were detected on the DE 1 analog wideband data. However, it is shown that in all of the cases, either the STS 3 attitude was such that the emitted electrons struck the main body of the vehicle, or it was not possible for whistler mode waves to propagate from the STS 3 location up to the vicinity of the DE 1 satellite.