M. V. Veselov’s research while affiliated with Russian Academy of Sciences and other places

The scientific rationale of the ROY multi-satellite mission addresses multiscale investigations of plasma processes in the key magnetospheric regions with strong plasma gradients, turbulence and magnetic field annihilation in the range from electron inertial length to MHD scales.The main scientific aims of ROY mission include explorations of:(a)turbulence on a non-uniform background as a keystone for transport processes;(b)structures and jets in plasma flows associated with anomalously large concentration of kinetic energy; their impact on the energy balance and boundary formation;(c)transport barriers: plasma separation and mixing, Alfvenic collapse of magnetic field lines and turbulent dissipation of kinetic energy;(d)self-organized versus forced reconnection of magnetic field lines;(e)collisionless shocks, plasma discontinuities and associated particle acceleration processes.In the case of autonomous operation, 4 mobile spacecrafts of about 200 kg mass with 60 kg payload equipped with electro-reactive plasma engines will provide 3D measurements at the scales of 100–10000 km and simultaneous 1D measurements at the scales 10–1000 km. The latter smaller scales will be scanned with the use of radio-tomography (phase-shift density measurements within the cone composed of 1 emitting and 3 receiving spacecrafts).We also discuss different opportunities for extra measurement points inside the ROY mission for simultaneous measurements at up to 3 scales for the common international fleet.Combined influence of intermittent turbulence and reconnection on the geomagnetic tail and on the nonlinear dynamics of boundary layers will be explored in situ with fast techniques including particle devices under development, providing plasma moments down to 30 ms resolution.We propose different options for joint measurements in conjunction with the SCOPE and other missions:•simultaneous sampling of low- and high-latitudes magnetopause, bow shock and geomagnetic tail at the same local time;•tracing of magnetosheath streamlines from the bow shock to near-Earth geomagnetic tail;•passing “through” the SCOPE on the inbound orbit leg;•common measurements (with SCOPE and other equatorial spacecraft) at distances of ∼ few thousand km for durations of ∼several hours per orbit.The orbit options and scientific payload of possible common interest are discussed in this work, including FREGAT cargo opportunities for extra payload launching and the “Swarm” campaigns with ejection of nano- and pico-satellites.

One of serious problems both for fundamental space research and various applied fields of space exploration is an effective involvement of graduates to real scientific or engineering work. The basic education even of high quality does not prepare a graduate well enough to start productive work in such specific fields as space science and engineering. An idea to organize the thematic educational training with elements of participation in real projects based on a profile research of Academic and industry organizations already at Master's degree program level was successfully implemented in Russian Academy in cooperation with Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. However at present, under severe competition with commercial companies, we need to search for new additional ways to intensify young talented people inflow to the field of space science and applications. Various activities aimed to resolve this problem are now conducted by Russian Space Science Council and Russian Academy of Sciences, such as educational discourses for high-schools and students of junior level. We discuss the first results of this practice. Very important part of this activity is development of effective integration into international educational and outreach programs. The report is prepared in a frame of "Young Scientists Support Program" of Russian Academy of Sciences.

On the background of rising number of multi- scale magnetospheric constellations of tens of microsatellites e g MMS SWARM etc we discuss some realistic suggestions for the future experimental efforts with the usage of small science packages aboard Russian spacecraft boosters and usage of piggy-back microsatellites in wide international cooperation Now space weather predictions require cross- scale i e multi- point and micro- scale electron inertial length and gyroradius i e few km and 0 1 s measurements which should facilitate the fundamental turbulence explorations impacting e g fusion and astrophysical tasks First excluding the only Russian magnetospheric mission RESONANCE which can be easily extended from local toward global studies of the magnetospheric magnetosheath boundary-layers and geotail resonances we are limited so that can use mostly the opportunity or piggy-back payloads for the numerous mentioned above and commercial launches E g we succeeded in adding of the PLASMA-F instrumentation for the Radioastron mission in the INTERBALL- related cooperation trying to improve the time resolution of plasma measurements by 1-2 orders of magnitude to reach the micro-scales While it is a limited package remembering e g 30- years IMP-8 successful mission we propose to build a subsystem for the international space weather patrol on the basis of e g FREGAT booster piggy-back launchers of similar packages towards critical magnetospheric points To reach the multi-scales one can use such standard services as the FREGAT ability to eject up

Space science being at the forefront of humanity evolvement greatly contributes to education trend and content From the other side Space science community needs in some basic level of education in society to get an appreciation and public support of research programs From this view educational activity of space science should be addressed to different target audiences and use different approaches The report describes the educational efforts of Russian Space Science Council and Russian Academy of Sciences in such directions as professional high education in collaboration with MIPT MAI MSU and some other high school institutions student spacecraft Chibis school education international school spacecraft Colidri organizing of student and young scientist conferences publishing in popular-science journals The actual problems met in this area are discussed

Spacecraft with a high elliptic orbits cross the different magnetospheric domains along the orbit. Plasma density in the Earth magnetosphere is varying from ~1000 cm-3 in plasmasphere to ~0.1 cm-3 in the lobes. For the regions of low plasma densities, where S/C potential is positive, direct plasma density measurements become impossible. The most used method is to correlate directly measured S/C potential values with electron density. Up to now the only one-valued functions were applied for various spacecraft. The functions differ from spacecraft to spacecraft as well as results obtained. At the same time magnetic field also varying in a range of two orders. Due to gyro radius of photoelectrons from the spacecraft is comparable with S/C dimension, a photoelectron current from a spacecraft, one of the main parameters of current balance, follows the magnetic field variations. Thus one should obtain the different plasma density values for the same value of S/C potential. An attempt to apply the logic of many-valued relation between S/C potential and plasma density was made basing on INTERBALL-Auroral data. The results then were compared with plasma density obtained from one-valued S/C-potential vs plasma density dependence. The work is supported by INTAS 2000-465 and RFBR 01-02-02005.

The progress in space instrumentation causes the rising number of the instrument modes, adjustments and other features. The work of the different instrument groups (field, wave, particle complexes) needs in more precise coordination. Furthermore, several spacecraft carry out the measurements simultaneously. All of that requires new approaches for the s/c control and data synchronization. The positive experience of the use of on-board program libraries correlated with different magnetospheric domains crossing prediction applied in INTERBALL project is analyzed. For the case of satellite-several subsatellites the original communication scheme is suggested. Taking into account strict weight and energy limitations it is difficult to establish a direct high bitrate subsatellite-graundstation radio-link. However such a radio-link seems possible for subsatellite-satellite due to the much shorter distance and therefore less power needed. The advantage of the use of main satellite as a communication mediator between a graundstation and subsatellites is considered. The scheme can be useful for multi-spacecraft planetary and deep space missions. The work is supported by INTAS 2000-465.

The electric field around charged satellite strongly disturbs of space thermal ion and electron density distribution. The space distribution is especially complicated, when Debye length of plasma comparable with satellite dimension. For positively charged satellite there is “ion shadow” in the wake of satellite, were ion density is near zero. In this case there is space anisotropy in thermal ion flux measurements due to charged satellite plasma interaction. Two approaches of model calculation of the 3D distribution of the electric potential around satellites are considered. The first is hydrodynamic set of equations with the Poisson equation, the second is the PIC (Particle In Cell) method. Space distribution of plasma parameters was calculated for various values of satellite potential and magnetic field directions. Possible effects to the measurements for realistic electric potential are discussed.

The electric field distribution around a charged satellite in a rarefied magnetospheric plasma influences greatly the densities and trajectories of particles measured by onboard instruments. The simulation of macroparameters of thermal plasma near the moving charged satellite, which is necessary for correction of experimental measurements, encounters considerable computational difficulties. In this work, two three-dimensional models of the electric field distribution around the satellite are considered under the conditions when the Debye length is comparable to the geometrical size of the spacecraft. In the first model a system of hydrodynamic equations of continuity and motion was used, which was solved jointly with the Poisson equation. In the second model the hydrodynamic equation of motion was used for analyzing the motion of large particles by means of the method of particles in a cell. The numerical algorithms and the results of calculations of the potential near the satellite, as well as the distributions of densities of electrons and ions and of volume charge, are considered. The results of test calculations for some situations in the ambient plasma are presented, and the influence of the spatial electric field distribution on the thermal plasma measurements is considered.

The Interball-2 spacecraft travels at altitudes extending up to 20 000 km, and becomes positively charged due to the low-plasma densities encountered and the photoemission on its sunlit surface. Therefore, a knowledge of the spacecraft potential Fs is required for correcting accurately thermal ion measurements on Interball-2. The determination of Fs is based on the balance of currents between escaping photoelectrons and incoming plasma electrons. A three-dimensional model of the potential structure surrounding Interball-2, including a realistic geometry and neglecting the space-charge densities, is used to find, through particle simulations, current-voltage relations of impacting plasma electrons Ie (Fs ) and escaping photoelectrons Iph (Fs ). The inferred relations are compared to analytic relationships in order to quantify the effects of the spacecraft geometry, the ambient magnetic field B0 and the electron temperature Te . We found that the complex geometry has a weak effect on the inferred currents, while the presence of B0 tends to decrease their values. Providing that the photoemission saturation current density Jph0 is known, a relation between Fs and the plasma density Ne can be derived by using the current balance. Since Jph0 is critical to this process, simultaneous measurements of Ne from Z-mode observations in the plasmapause, and data on the potential difference Fs - Fp between the spacecraft and an electric probe (p) are used in order to reverse the process. A value Jph0 ~ = 32 µAm-2 is estimated, close to laboratory tests, but less than typical measurements in space. Using this value, Ne and Fs can be derived systematically from electric field measurements without any additional calculation. These values are needed for correcting the distributions of low-energy ions measured by the Hyperboloid experiment on Interball-2. The effects of the potential structure on ion trajectories reaching Hyperboloid are discussed quantitatively in a companion paper.Key words. Space plasma physics (charged particle motion and acceleration; numerical simulation studies; spacecraft sheaths, wakes, charging)

For analyze and interpretation of many SC experiments the distribution of electric field near satellite is needed. The distribution of electric field near satellite is most important for thermal plasma measurements. So, the great positive potential of satellite can disturb distribution function of thermal ions and in some cases led to impossibility to detect of light ions like H+ . Nevertheless, in case of slight satellite potential the distribution of electric field is need to estimate its influence to trajectory of particles and disturbance of distribution function. The Debye radius and plasma velocity are also important. For two limited cases the problem was commonly solved. In case of dense plasma the thin sheath approximation is allowed. In case of rarefied plasma it is possible to use electric field in vacuum as the first approaching. The task will be especially hard when Debye length comparable with satellite dimension. Electric field distribution around a charged satellite in magnetospheric plasma modifies the particle trajectories reaching the onboard instruments. Two approaches of model calculation of the 3D distribution of the electric potential around satellites are considered. The first is hydrodynamic set of equations with the Poisson equation, the second is the PIC (Particle In Cell) method. Numerical algorithms are described together with some results with emphasis on the pattern around the cylindrical satellite. Possible effects to the measurements for realistic electric potential and comparisons with different models are discussed.