Space Physics
ADBSat is a novel software that determines the aerodynamic properties of any body in free-molecular flow. Its main advantage is the fast approximation of the aerodynamics of spacecraft in the lower end of the low-Earth orbit altitude range.…
The velocity of alpha particles relative to protons can vary depending on the solar wind type and distance from the Sun (Marsch 2012). Measurements from the previous spacecraft provided the alpha-proton's differential velocities down to 0.3…
We present analysis of 17,043 proton kinetic-scale current sheets collected over 124 days of Wind spacecraft measurements in the solar wind at 11 Samples/s magnetic field resolution. The current sheets have thickness $\lambda$ from a few…
Magnetic flux ropes with helical field lines and strong core field are ubiquitous structures in space plasmas. Recently, kinetic-scale flux ropes have been identified by high-resolution observations from Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS)…
We present fast algorithms to automatically estimate the statistical position of the bow shock from spacecraft data, using existing analytical two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) models of the shock surface. We derive…
A torus-shaped sail consists of a reflective membrane attached to an inflatable torus-shaped rim. The sail's deployment from its stowed configuration is initiated by introducing inflation pressure into the toroidal rim with an attached…
In the lower solar coronal regions where the magnetic field is dominant, the Alfven speed is much higher than the wind speed. In contrast, the near-Earth solar wind is strongly super-Alfvenic, i.e., the wind speed greatly exceeds the Alfven…
Geomagnetic disturbance forecasting is based on the identification of solar wind structures and accurate determination of their magnetic field orientation. For nowcasting activities, this is currently a tedious and manual process. Focusing…
Magnetopause diamagnetic currents arise from density and temperature driven pressure gradients across the boundary layer. While theoretically recognized, the temperature contributions to the magnetopause current system have not yet been…
The mechanisms and pathways of magnetic energy conversion are an important subject for many laboratory, space and astrophysical systems. Here, we present a perspective on magnetic energy conversion in MHD through magnetic field curvature…
Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer (MENCA) of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) measures the \emph{in-situ} neutral upper atmospheric constituents of Mars. Martian lower atmosphere predominated by the presence of $CO_2$ which…
Manned Mars missions planned in the near future of very low solar activity period and hence higher than acceptable radiation doses due mainly to the Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR), would require special techniques and technological development…
System-scale magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves within Earth's magnetosphere are often understood theoretically using box models. While these have been highly instructive in understanding many fundamental features of the various wave modes…
We study the interaction of upstream ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves with collisionless shocks by analyzing the outputs of eleven 2D local hybrid simulation runs. Our simulated shocks have Alfv\'enic Mach numbers between 4.29-7.42 and their…
We present a first comparison of Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) heliosheath measurements, remotely sensed by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission and the Ion and Neutral Camera (INCA) on the Cassini mission, with modeled ENA…
We report small-scale magnetic flux ropes via the Parker Solar Probe in situ measurements during the first six encounters and present additional analyses to supplement our prior work in Chen et al. 2021. These flux ropes are detected by the…
At scales much larger than the ion inertial scale and the gyro-radius of thermal protons, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory is well equipped to describe the nature of solar wind turbulence. The turbulent spectrum itself is defined by a…
Among the fundamental and most challenging problems of laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasma physics is to understand the relaxation processes of nearly collisionless plasmas toward quasi-stationary states; and the resultant states of…
The ion temperature of the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn was observed to increase substantially from about 10 to 30 planet radii. Different heating mechanisms have been proposed to explain such observations, including a heating model…
We investigate the maximum expected magnitudes of the geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in the Czech transmission power network. We compute a model utilising the Lehtinen-Pirjola method, considering the plane-wave model of the…