Session 7E - Space and Basic.
ORAL session, Thursday morning, November 14
Majestic Ballroom, Adam's Mark
New applications of space tethers (HVTSS) are discussed in relation with the idea\footnote Yu.V.Vasilyev, V.V.Danilov, Physics-Doklady, (1995) 342, 5. of an active experiment at the Earth's radiation belts. Two conducting strings are supposed to be tethered between the main satellite and two small subsatellites flying through the ERB. A large potential difference \sim1MV is applied between the tethers by means of a generator carried on the main satellite. The tethers effectively scatter the high energy particles into loss cone, providing a control of particle life time in ERB. The rigorous theory of the sheath layer formed by relatively cold plasma is developed for both DC and AC regimes yielding an electric field profile, which is then used for the treatment of the scattering problem. With the help of the Fokker-Planck equation, the average rate of particle losses, normalized per 1 km of the theter's length is found to be: (2.5 \div 14)\times 10^16 sec^-1km^-1 for electron belts and 1.8\times 10^14\div 2.5\times 10^20 sec^-1km^-1 for proton belts. New active experiments in ERB become possible under the joint realization of HVTSS and HAARP\footnote D.Papadopoulos, P.Bernhardt et al. A Joint Program of Phillips Lab and the Office of Naval Research, June, 1995 projects.