ROSES ID: NNH07ZDA001N Selection Year: 2008
Program Element: Focused Science Topic
Principal Investigator: David Smith
Affiliation(s): University of California Santa Cruz
Project Member(s):
O'Brien, Thomas Paul Collaborator The Aerospace Corporation
Millan, Robyn M Collaborator Dartmouth College
Sample, John Glen Collaborator Space Sciences Lab
Selesnick, Richard S Collaborator AFRL/RVBXR
Summary:
Understanding the Earth's radiation belts requires understanding of the ways energetic particles are lost as well as the ways they are accelerated to high energies in the first place. The most significant radiation belt particles in terms of their danger to astronauts and robotic probes are the highly relativistic electrons in the outer radiation belt. We propose an in-depth study of the loss of these electrons to the Earth's atmosphere, concentrating particularly on a seldom-studied phenomenon we call Duskside Relativistic Electron Precipitation (DREP). DREP has been reported in a few cases using spacecraft, but has not been considered a dominant loss mechanism from these results. Data from balloons, however, suggest that DREP actually is the dominant mechanism for the loss of high-energy electrons from the outer belt.Performance Year | Reference | Investigation Type | Actions |
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1 | Comess, Max D.; Smith, David M.; Selesnick, Richard ... | not set |
Performance Year | Reference | Actions |
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1 | Comess, M. D.; Smith, D. M.; Sample, J.; Millan, R.... | |
1 | Comess, M. D.; Smith, D. M.; Millan, R. M.; Sample,... | |
1 | Liang, X.; Comess, M.; Smith, D. M.; Selesnick, R. ... | |
1 | Smith, D. M.; Comess, M.; Liang, X.; Casavant, E.; ... | |
1 | Casavant, E. P.; Comess, M. D.; Smith, D. M.; Liang... |