Bibliography

Plasma-neutral gas interactions in various space environments: Assessment beyond simplified approximations as a Voyage 2050 theme

In the White Paper, submitted in response to the European Space Agency (ESA) Voyage 2050 Call, we present the importance of advancing our knowledge of plasma-neutral gas interactions, and of deepening our understanding of the partially ionized environments that are ubiquitous in the upper atmospheres of planets and moons, and elsewhere in space. In future space missions, the above task requires addressing the following fundamental questions: (A) How and by how much do plasma-neutral gas interactions influence the re-distribution of externally provided energy to the composing species? (B) How and by how much do plasma-neutral gas interactions contribute toward the growth of heavy complex molecules and biomolecules? Answering these questions is an absolute prerequisite for addressing the long-standing questions of atmospheric escape, the origin of biomolecules, and their role in the evolution of planets, moons, or comets, under the influence of energy sources in the form of electromagnetic and corpuscular radiation, because low-energy ion-neutral cross-sections in space cannot be reproduced quantitatively in laboratories for conditions of satisfying, particularly, (1) low-temperatures, (2) tenuous or strong gradients or layered media, and (3) in low-gravity plasma. Measurements with a minimum core instrument package (\textless 15 kg) can be used to perform such investigations in many different conditions and should be included in all deep-space missions. These investigations, if specific ranges of background parameters are considered, can also be pursued for Earth, Mars, and Venus.

Yamauchi, Masatoshi; De Keyser, Johan; Parks, George; Oyama, Shin-ichiro; Wurz, Peter; Abe, Takumi; Beth, Arnaud; Daglis, Ioannis; Dandouras, Iannis; Dunlop, Malcolm; Henri, Pierre; Ivchenko, Nickolay; Kallio, Esa; Kucharek, Harald; Liu, Yong; Mann, Ingrid; Marghitu, Octav; Nicolaou, Georgios; Rong, Zhaojin; Sakanoi, Takeshi; Saur, Joachim; Shimoyama, Manabu; Taguchi, Satoshi; Tian, Feng; Tsuda, Takuo; Tsurutani, Bruce; Turner, Drew; Ulich, Thomas; Yau, Andrew; Yoshikawa, Ichiro;

Published by: Experimental Astronomy      Published on: mar

YEAR: 2022     DOI: 10.1007/s10686-022-09846-9

Collision cross-section; Future missions; Low-energy; Neutral gas; Plasma; Voyage 2050

New Measurement of the Vertical Atmospheric Density Profile From Occultations of the Crab Nebula With X-Ray Astronomy Satellites Suzaku and Hitomi

We present new measurements of the vertical density profile of the Earth s atmosphere at altitudes between 70 and 200 km, based on Earth occultations of the Crab Nebula observed with the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer onboard Suzaku and the hard X-ray Imager onboard Hitomi. X-ray spectral variation due to the atmospheric absorption is used to derive tangential column densities of the absorbing species, that is, N and O including atoms and molecules, along the line of sight. The tangential column densities are then inverted to obtain the atmospheric number density. The data from 219 occultation scans at low latitudes in both hemispheres from September 15, 2005 to March 26, 2016 are analyzed to generate a single, highly averaged (in both space and time) vertical density profile. The density profile is in good agreement with the Naval-Research-Laboratory s-Mass-Spectrometer-Incoherent-Scatter-Radar-Extended (NRLMSISE-00) model, except for the altitude range of 70–110 km, where the measured density is ∼50\% smaller than the model. Such a deviation is consistent with the recent measurement with the SABER aboard the TIMED satellite (Cheng et al., 2020, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11040341). Given that the NRLMSISE-00 model was constructed some time ago, the density decline could be due to the radiative cooling/contracting of the upper atmosphere as a result of greenhouse warming in the troposphere. However, we cannot rule out a possibility that the NRL model is simply imperfect in this region. We also present future prospects for the upcoming Japan-US X-ray astronomy satellite, X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), which will allow us to measure atmospheric composition with unprecedented spectral resolution of ΔE ∼ 5 eV in 0.3–12 keV.

Katsuda, Satoru; Fujiwara, Hitoshi; Ishisaki, Yoshitaka; Yoshitomo, Maeda; Mori, Koji; Motizuki, Yuko; Sato, Kosuke; Tashiro, Makoto; Terada, Yukikatsu;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on:

YEAR: 2021     DOI: 10.1029/2020JA028886

Crab Nebula; Hitomi; occultation; Suzaku; upper atmosphere; X-rays

Variations of the neutral temperature and sodium density between 80 and 107 km above Troms\o during the winter of 2010-2011 by a new solid-state sodium lidar

A new solid-state sodium lidar installed at Ramfjordmoen, Troms\o (69.6\textdegreeN, 19.2\textdegreeE), started observations of neutral temperature together with sodium density in the mesosphere-lower thermosphere (MLT) region on 1 October 2010. The new lidar provided temperature data with a time resolution of 10 min and with good quality between \~80 and \~105 km from October 2010 to March 2011. This paper aims at introducing the new lidar with its observational results obtained over the first 6 months of observations. We succeeded in obtaining neutral temperature and sodium density data of \~255.5 h in total. In order to evaluate our observations, we compared (1) the sodium density with that published in the literature, (2) average temperature and column sodium density data with those obtained with Arctic Lidar Observatory for Middle Atmosphere Research Weber sodium lidar, and (3) the neutral temperature data with those obtained by Sounding of the Atmosphere with Broadband Emission Radiometry/Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics satellite. For the night of 5 October 2010, we succeeded in conducting simultaneous observations of the new lidar and the European Incoherent Scatter UHF radar with the tristatic Common Program 1 (CP-1) mode. Comparisons of neutral and ion temperatures showed a good agreement at 104 km between 0050 and 0230 UT on 6 October 2010 when the electric field strength was smaller, while significant deviations (up to \~25 K) are found at 107 km. We evaluated contributions of Joule heating and electron-ion heat exchange, but derived values seem to be underestimated.

Nozawa, S.; Kawahara, T.; Saito, N.; Hall, C.; Tsuda, T.; Kawabata, T.; Wada, S.; Brekke, A.; Takahashi, T.; Fujiwara, H.; Ogawa, Y.; Fujii, R.;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on: 01/2014

YEAR: 2014     DOI: 10.1002/2013JA019520

Joule heating; neutral temperature; polar MLT; sodium lidar