Daedalus, a Candidate Mission for the Exploration of the Lower Thermosphere-Ionosphere: Mission Performance Demonstration of Multi-point Sampling Capability
Abstract
The Daedalus mission has been proposed to the European Space Agency (ESA) in response to the call for ideas for the Earth Observation programme's Earth Explorers. It was selected in 2018 as one of three candidates for Earth Explorer 10, and is currently undergoing a Phase-0 Science and Requirements Consolidation Study. The goal of the mission is to quantify key energetics, dynamics and chemistry processes in the Lower Thermosphere-Ionosphere (LTI), focusing in particular on processes related to ion-neutral coupling. Daedalus will perform in-situ measurements of plasma density and temperature, ion drift, neutral density and wind, ion and neutral composition, electric and magnetic fields and precipitating particles. The measurements will allow to quantify locally the processes by which energy is deposited in the upper atmosphere via Joule heating and energetic particle precipitation, estimates of which currently vary by orders of magnitude between models. Altitudes below 140 km are targeted, sampled from two satellites on elliptical orbits with separation in altitude while at perigee. In this talk, results from the performance demonstrations of the use of multi-point measurements from the Daedalus mission concept are presented, focusing on the derivation of local gradients, altitude profiles and height integrated Joule heating and conductivities from the simultaneous height-separated measurements.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMSA018..05S
- Keywords:
-
- 3369 Thermospheric dynamics;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 2427 Ionosphere/atmosphere interactions;
- IONOSPHERE;
- 2437 Ionospheric dynamics;
- IONOSPHERE;
- 7999 General or miscellaneous;
- SPACE WEATHER