Probing the magnetosphere with artificial electron beams

Since 1970 the Minnesota group has completed five sounding rocket experiments in which electron beams were injected into the magnetosphere at ionospheric heights and the interaction of the beams with the nearby and distant magnetosphere studied. By the technique of precisely locating conjugate region beam echoes the distant electric and magnetic field structures were studied by mapping into the local ionosphere. Ionospheric fields were measured directly for comparison. Subjects studied included gradient and curvature drifts, electric field drifts, electron pitch angle diffusion and other types of interactions with the tail plasma sheet region and the nearby ionosphere and atmosphere. The beams were also studied by plasma wave and ground-based electromagnetic detectors, by ground-based low light level television techniques and by extensive on-board rocket x-ray, photometer and particle detectors. Vehicle potentials and neutralizing processes and beam-ionosphere interactions have also been studied but will not be discussed in this paper.