A large‐amplitude traveling ionospheric disturbance excited by the space shuttle during launch

Abstract

The ionosphere was monitored during the fourth space shuttle (STS 4) launch in June 1982 by the Arecibo incoherent scatter radar. A long‐lived, large‐amplitude, traveling ionospheric disturbance with dominant wave modes of ∼15 and 75 min was observed shortly after the launch. The disturbance wave train is likely the product of a variety of wave modes. The disturbance front traveled with an average group speed of >628 m/s. Such speeds are typical of fast moving shock waves and ducted gravity waves. Either one or both could be responsible for the signatures observed near the leading edge of the STS 4 wave train. Later arriving waves, with their inherently lower propagation speeds, are attributed to additional gravity wave modes. These waves, however, were not explicity identified in this study. Although atmospheric waves are excited along the entire flight path, the most intense region of excitation is located along a relatively short flight segment (∼70 km) near the launch site where all primary thrusters are firing and over 70% of the propellants are expended. Not since the nuclear bomb tests of the late 1950s and early 1960s has an artificial source of atmospheric gravity waves been more available for upper atmospheric studies. The routine launching of high thrust vehicles provides an excellent opportunity to observe the propogation characteristics of atmospheric waves under controlled conditions and to acquire information on the nature of the upper atmosphere.

Ionospheric response to the shock and acoustic waves excited by the launch of the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft

“…In fact, clear wave structures along the rocket's trajectory were found at a distance of ~600–2000 km from the launch site. This is inconsistent with the early estimation of Noble [], who observed the acoustic waves that were generated by a space shuttle launch and predicted that the region of the highest‐intensity excitation is located within a horizontal distance of ~70 km from the launch site, where the space shuttle was in its ascending stage and expended more than 70% of its propellant. However, our results are supported by Afraimovich et al [], who calculated the loci of the shock waves' origins and found that they were located no closer than 500–1000 km from the launch site.…”

“…A velocity range of 600 to 1670 m s −1 has been reported for the shock waves that were excited by the Apollo missions [ Afraimovich et al , ]. Waves with velocities in the same range were also observed during launches of the US space shuttles [ Noble , ] and of rockets from Kazakhstan [ Afraimovich et al , ]. These velocities are, in essence, close to the sound speed in the ionospheric F region.…”

Observation and simulation of the ionosphere disturbance waves triggered by rocket exhausts

“…It is possibly that our assumptions of artificial viscosity and model grid size are insufficient to capture the effects of colliding shocks in the rocket wake. Nevertheless, our simulation based on energy of exhaust plumes confirms the hypotheses of disturbance source made by earlier studies [ Arendt , ; Noble , ; Li et al ., ].…”

Superimposed disturbance in the ionosphere triggered by spacecraft launches in China

“…since the early 1960s (Booker, 1961;Felker and Roberts, 1966;Mendillo et al, 1975Mendillo et al, , 1987Noble, 1990;Jacobson and Carlos, 1994;Li et al, 1994;Bernhardt et al, 1998Bernhardt et al, , 2005Bernhardt et al, , 2012. Chernogor and Blaunstein (2013) summarized the major characteristic parameters of the observed ionospheric effects on the basis of many space shuttle launch cases processed using incoherent scatter and Doppler radars.…”