Electron Precipitation Measurements for the Geospace Dynamics Constellation Mission

Abstract:

The Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) mission will provide fundamental advances of our knowledge of the ionosphere-thermosphere (I-T) system through multiple spacecraft platforms. Identical simultaneous measurements taken from multiple spacecraft locations and integrated together in a modelling framework to allow both local and global atmospheric models to better determine how the atmosphere responds to changes in different energy inputs. Electron precipitation measured by the Dynamics Explorer-2 spacecraft has shown the regions of variability and the magnitudes of precipitating electrons into the ionosphere-thermosphere (I-T) system. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite has shown how electron precipitation affects the atmosphere, where electron energy is deposited, and its significant influence on the energy available to the ionosphere-thermosphere (I-T) system. GDC will further describe electron energy input by directly feeding measurements into an assimilation program which will prepare these multiple measurements for incorporation into global atmospheric models. At the same time, electron energy spectra can be incorporated into local models for detailed studies of the atmosphere response. Results of local detailed studies can be fed back to the global models to aid in their improvement. A single launch vehicle involving a cluster of spacecraft will be able to investigate local time-spatial effects from the same orbital plane as the spacecraft are bunched just after launch. As the mission develops and the spacecraft disperse into different local time orbital planes, investigations into longitudinal variations can be conducted. Examples of the input data will be used to illustrate how it will provide improvement to global atmospheric modeling.