Cylindrical Electrostatic Probes

Two cylindrical electrostatic probes were used to measure local electron temperature and density at the satellite. The main purpose of this experiment, however, was to determine the feasibility of placing direct measurements on a spacecraft equipped with the long antennas required for topside sounding. The sensors were operated as Langmuir probes and consisted each of a collector electrode extending from the central axis of a cylindrical guard ring. The guard ring extended 23 cm from the spacecraft and the collector electrode extended 46 cm. The two sensors were mounted on opposite sides of the lower portion of the satellite and both extended downward at an angle of 45 deg to the spacecraft spin axis, which was oriented in a northward direction in the orbital plane. The sensors were operated sequentially. NSSDC has all the useful data that exist from this investigation.

本研究采用了两个圆柱形静电探针，用以测量卫星上的局部电子温度与密度。然而，本实验的核心目标在于验证在配备用于顶侧探测所需长天线的人造卫星上直接进行测量的可行性。传感器作为朗缪尔探针运行，每个传感器均由一个自圆柱形保护环中央轴线延伸出的收集电极构成。保护环从卫星向外延伸23厘米，而收集电极则向外延伸46厘米。这两个传感器被安装在卫星下部的相对两侧，并以45度的角度相对于卫星自旋轴线向下延伸，卫星自旋轴线在轨道平面内朝向北方向。传感器以顺序操作。NASA空间科学数据中心（NSSDC）拥有本调查中所有有用的数据。