Hi,
Some of you earth spacecraft/rocket people might be interested in
the following paper, avail in HTML at:
http://galileo.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~graps/earth
This work is a the completion of ESA contract characterizing the
charging and dynamics of natural and man-made debris in high-earth
orbit.
The conclusions of this work are that it is possible to form large
negative potentials (thousands of volts) on dust and debris
particles in Earth orbit. These kind of charges are seen by the
GORID dust detector in geostationary orbit. And these charges
support some of the ideas of the electrostatic fragmentation of
meteoroids swarms and groups meteoroid fragments, which were
observed by the HEOS II dust instrument 20 years ago.
We also show that the Earth's magnetosphere is a very dynamic place-
probably the most dynamic magnetosphere of the planets in the solar
system, in large part due to its close proximity to the Sun's solar
wind output.
Amara
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Dust in Earth's Magnetosphere
Amara L. Graps / Eberhard Gruen
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik
Heidelberg, Germany
June 2000
Introduction
In this report, we conduct an analysis of the charging and orbital
evolution of dust particles in Earth's magnetosphere. The survey
includes the bulk properties such as composition, density,
diameter, the surface effects due to secondary electron and
photoelectric emission (e.g. secondary electron emission yields,
optical constants), a magnetosphere description, a magnetospheric
plasma description with data, charging calculation results of
equilibrium potentials, times and calculations for electrostatic
disruption, dominant charging processes for different portions of
the Earth's magnetosphere, force calculations and orbital
evolution for dust particles in Earth's magnetosphere.
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--*************************************************************** Amara Graps | Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik Interplanetary Dust Group | Saupfercheckweg 1 +49-6221-516-543 | 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de * http://galileo.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~graps *************************************************************** "Never fight an inanimate object." - P. J. O'Rourke
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