The Beam-Plasma Interactions Experiment

We propose a ‘mother-daughter’ rocket experiment to test the physics of beam-plasma-wave interactions. In this experiment the primary (mother) rocket payload is an electron accelerator that will produce a beam of energetic electrons that generates electromagnetic plasma wave modes as it propagates through the ambient ionospheric plasma. The secondary (daughter) payload separates from the mother, travels to a higher altitude, and measures the waves as they propagate upward from the mother into the upper ionosphere and magnetosphere. The daughter payload consists of 3D electric probes, magnetic search coils, a waveform-capture radio receiver, a Langmuir probe and an electron detector. Plasma physics theory predicts two possible outcomes based on different numerical assumptions. The two theories make dramatically different predictions for the dependence of radiated wave power as a function of the electron beam energy and pitch angle. The traditional (‘two-mode’) theory predicts that wave power is a sharply-peaked function of injected beam energy. The peak wave power (at beam energies ~10 keV) is expected to be 2-3 orders of magnitude larger than at lower (~1 keV) or higher (~50 keV) beam energies. More recent theoretical treatments predict a ‘one-mode’ solution to the beam-plasma interaction equations. In the one-mode theory there is no peak in wave power. Rather wave power decreases monotonically as beam energies increase from ~1 to ~50 keV and the predicted absolute beam-to-wave energy conversion is predicted to be up to 100X more efficient than predicted by the two-mode theory. Our experiment will measure all the beam, wave, and particle parameters that are used in the theoretical calculations: the ambient magnetic field vector, plasma density and temperature, wave spectral density, wave normal vector, Poynting flux, beam energy, and pitch angle. We will vary the beam energy over the range ~1 to >50 keV and pitch angle over ~0-90°. The measurements will fully test the two competing theories of how electron beams in space produce propagating electromagnetic waves in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. A secondary science objective is to measure the effect of the beam-generated waves on the ambient ionospheric plasma. Once the waves are generated by the electron beam they transfer wave energy to the background plasma by pitch angle scattering ambient electrons. The effect of pitch angle scattering is to partially fill the atmospheric ‘loss cone’ as measured by the electron detector on the daughter. The experiment strongly supports NASA's Heliophysics science goals - particularly “investigations of the physics of magnetospheres, including fundamental interactions of plasmas and particles with fields and waves, and coupling to the solar wind and ionospheres.” Recent NASA missions (including THEMIS, Van Allen probes, and MMS) have identified wave-particle interactions as key processes mediating the transfer of energy within different parts of the solar wind, magnetosphere, and ionosphere. The Beam-Plasma Interactions Experiment will test our fundamental understanding of the underlying physical interactions using a unique active-experimental approach.

Support NASA's Heliophysics strategic science objectives to understand the Sun and its interactions with Earth and the solar system, including space weather. This will be achieved by developing/demonstrating instrumentation technology necessary to address the following science goals: Explore the physical processes in the space environment from the Sun to the Earth and throughout the solar system; Advance our understanding of the connections that link the Sun, the Earth, planetary space environments, and the outer reaches of our solar system; Develop the knowledge and capability to detect and predict extreme conditions in space to protect life and society and to safeguard human and robotic explorers beyond Earth.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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