JOULE-II Sounding Rocket

Launched successfully January 19, 2007

JOULE 2 had multiple improvements over the initial flight (JOULE), including additional diagnostics from the AMISR Incoherent Scatter Radar and two Suprathermal Ion Imagers (SII) instead of only one.

AMISR will help determine mean ion mass as a function of altitude and will also give an independent measure of ionospheric conductivity. The presence of two SIIs will allow velocity measurements in two orthogonal planes, perpendicular to B (on payload 21.138) and parallel to B (on payload 36.234). Both payloads will reach altitudes approaching 200 km; the SII's will operate during the descent to the region between 100-120 km, which is inaccessible by any other means.

Co-Investigators

Experiment Investigator Affiliation
TMA M. Larsen (PI) Clemson University
Electric Fields R. Pfaff
Langmuir Probe NASA GSFC
Magnetometer
SII D. Knudsen University of Calgary
Electron Electrostatic Analyser J. Clemmons
Ionization Gauge The Aerospace Corp.
Photometers J. Hecht
30 MHz Coherent Scatter Radar D. Hysell Cornell University
SuperDARN
AMIE G. Crowley SWRI
AMISR J. Thayer University of Colorado

Publications

Sangalli, L., D. J. Knudsen, M. F. Larsen, T. Zhan, R. F. Pfaff, and D. Rowland, Rocket-based measurements of ion velocity, neutral wind, and electric field in the collisional transition region of the auroral ionosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 114, A04306, doi:10.1029/2008JA013757, 2009.

Archer, W., A New Technique for Measuring Ionospheric Temperature, MSc thesis, University of Calgary, September 2009.

Sangalli, L.. Sounding Rocket Probing of the Ionospheric Collisional Transition Region, PhD thesis, University of Calgary, April 2009.