An SPS Report

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Magnetospheric Effects Of Ion And Atom Injections By The SPS

  • Contract Number: 31109385075
  • Report Code: ANLEESTM94
  • Report Code: SSL8099901
  • Release year: 1980
  • Pages: 122

Coordinating Organizations:

  • Aerospace Corporation
  • Argonne National Laboratory
  • US Department Of Energy

Contributors:

Y T Chiu, J M Cornwall, J G Luhman, Michael Schulz

Abstract/Description:

This is the final report of a two-year assessment of magnetospheric effects of the construction of an SPS at LEO. The operational activities of the SPS and a major segment of the constructional activities take place in the magnetosphere, which is a region of near-earth space where the ionized medium is controlled by magnetic and electric fields. These activities in space represent a loading upon the tenuous but spatially vast magnetospheric environment. The magnitude of this loading, in the form of injections of matter and energy, can be qualitatively accentuated by comparison of the mass of the SPS spacecraft at GEO with the largest spacecraft operated to date [Skylab] at LEO. While Skylab did not seem to have any appreciable effects upon the magnetosphere, the key question is whether the scaling-up of spacecraft mass by three orders of magnitude and the scaling-up of orbit altitude by two orders of magnitude would have appreciable magnetospheric effects.

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Space Studies Institute
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(661) 750-2774
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Space Studies Institute
7429 Laurel Canyon Blvd
Suite S
North Hollywood CA 91605
(661) 750-2774
admin@ssi.org