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| Titel |
Nitrogen Ion TRacing Observatory (NITRO) ESA's M-class call |
| VerfasserIn |
Masatoshi Yamauchi, Iannis Dandouras, Peter Rathsman |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2015
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 17 (2015) |
| Datensatznummer |
250104676
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2015-4104.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Nitrogen (N) dynamics in the magnetosphere has not been thoroughly investigated
in the past due to the difficulty in separating from the oxygen (O). The NITRO
mission that was proposed for the recent ESA’s M-class mission call in January 2015
studies the budget and dynamics of magnetospheric nitrogen ions (N+ and N2+) by
separating them from O+ in the inner magnetosphere using 2 orbiting spacecraft. One
spacecraft is spin stabilized (spin period of 22-26 sec) at an 800 kmx33000 km
altitude orbit (apogee about 6 RE geocentric distance) with 68.5° inclination for in
situ plasma measurement of ions in the magnetosphere. The other spacecraft is
3-axis stabilized at a 500 kmx2400 km altitude orbit with 88.35° inclination for
optical measurement of line-of-sight integrated emissions from the magnetospheric
plasma and monitoring of plasma conditions just above the ionosphere and the
exosphere between 1500km-2500km. With these two spacecraft with the same
longitudinal drift velocity, the mission will shed light on major questions on six different
disciplines related to ESA’s Cosmic Vision themes CV1.3 and CV2.1 multi-disciplinary
objectives:
Ancient Earth (Amino acid formation depends on relative abundance of atmospheric N, O, &
H).
Planetary Evolution (why N/O ratio on Mars is only 0.1% of Earth, Venus, or Titan).
Exospheric Morphology (no direct measurement of exosphere above 1500 km and limited
UV measurement only for hydrogen and oxygen).
Ionospheric Physics (ionization at the topside ionosphere at different external conditions
determines ion escape and ionosphere-exosphere-magnetosphere coupling).
Magnetospheric Dynamics (ion dynamics and circulation of ionospheric origin and
the dependency of N-O-H ratio on solar and solar wind conditions are not well
understood).
Space Plasma Physics (Different V0 between M/q=14 and M/q=16 gives extra information on
energization mechanisms in space).
The detail of the proposal will be presented in the General Assembly. |
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