Artificial Aurora Experiment: Experiment and principal results

An electron accelerator was flown on an Aerobee 350 rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia, in January 1969. At altitude the accelerator put out a series of electron-beam pulses up to 1 sec long aimed downward along the magnetic-field line. Several electron energies up to a maximum of 9.5 kev were used. The beam current was also varied up to a maximum of 490 ma. The highest power pulses were detected on the ground by sensitive optical systems. The vehicle neutralization was accomplished by collecting an ionospheric current equal to the beam current on a large aluminized mylar foil deployed perpendicular to the magnetic field. Attempts were made to measure electromagnetic waves that might be produced by the beam and also to measure with radar the ionization trail resulting from the beam interacting with the atmosphere. The artificial auroral rays produced by the electron beams appeared at the right place and time with about the right shape and intensity. This experiment demonstrates the feasibility of propagating electron beams long distances in space with relatively small alterations resulting from plasma instabilities or beam propagation problems.

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