Critical Ionization Velocity (CIV) experiment XANI onboard the INTERCOSMOS 24 — “ACTIVE” satellite

Abstract

Satellite INTERCOSMOS-24 “ACTIVE” was launched on September 30 1989, with an initial apogee 2500 km, perigee 530 km and an orbital inclination of 82.2°. Under “ACTIVE” project, a wide number of plasma diagnostics instruments were especially designed to study the ionospheric response to high power VLF transmitter emissions, by means of satellite-subsatellite system during this mission. As a separate part of this project, a Critical Ionization Velocity (CIV) experiment called XANI (Xenon ANomalous Ionization) had been carried out to study neutral gas/plasma interaction processes in the ionosphere using neutral Xe gas injection. Seven Xe gas release experiments had been realized at daytime high latitude ionosphere. In this paper an Ion Drift Meter (IDM) and Retarding Potential Analyzer (RPA) data concerning transverse ion drift velocity vector measurements and total ion density variations during gas release experiment are shown. Two examples of the RPA data, taken after the beginning of Xe injection, show some prompt ionization at the ionization front about 30% in comparison with the background ion concentration. Horizontal ion drift of few hundred meters per second, transversal to the satellite velocity vector, had been observed at the ionization front.