Radiation of VLF/ELF waves from a magnetospheric tether
Name
758493437-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
10.38 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
91dedd493da5af54960bd2cfb534f3c9
Author(s)
De Soria-Santacruz Pich, Maria
Advisor(s)
Manuel Martinez-Sanchez.
Alternative Title
Radiation of very low frequency/extremely low frequency waves from a magnetospheric tether
Date Issued
2011
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The high energy particles of the Van Allen belts coming from cosmic rays, solar storms, high altitude nuclear explosions (HANEs) and other processes represent a significant danger to humans and spacecraft operating in those regions, as well as an obstacle to exploration and development of space technologies. The "Radiation Belt Remediation" (RBR) concept has been proposed as a way to try to solve this problem through VLF/ELF transmissions in the ionosphere, which will create a pitch-angle scattering of these energetic particles with some of them falling into their loss cone, thus reentering the Earth. The aim of this thesis is to develop an analytical model of propagation and radiation of Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves (EMIC) from a high-voltage magnetospheric tether, which are the waves proposed to scatter protons. The plasma is anisotropic due to the external Earth's magnetic field and it is assumed to have sufficiently low density, temperature and degree of ionization so that collisions and thermal velocities can be neglected. An asymptotic analysis is developed to calculate the fields and power flux radiated by the tether that reach a specified observation point located in the far-field region. The effect of the antenna-plasma interaction in the far-field region is studied by adding to the conventional triangular source current distribution along the antenna a radial current arising from the sheath region. The near-field case and the radiation impedance are as well studied. Finally, the results are analyzed and compared with previous models for limiting cases.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2011.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-130).
Subjects
Aeronautics and Astronautics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
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