Ionosphere and Magnetosphere Density and Charge
The launch loop operates at the bottom fringe of the ionosphere, but launches vehicles into it and through it. Tethers may be used for apogee insertion, and these tethers must contend with drag and lightning/whistler conduction effects in the ionosphere and the magnetosphere. If dynamic structure platforms are used for a hypothetical space elevator, then conduction through the space elevator tether may lead to failures.
|| L shell || Equatorial || Latitude ||<-2>Electron/m3 ||
|
Altitude km |
degrees |
Jun |
Dec |
1.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
- |
- |
1.1 |
637.8 |
17.5 |
- |
- |
1.2 |
1275.6 |
24.1 |
- |
- |
1.3 |
1913.4 |
28.7 |
- |
- |
1.4 |
2551.2 |
32.3 |
- |
- |
1.5 |
3189.0 |
35.3 |
2.8E6 |
5.0E6 |
1.6 |
3826.8 |
37.8 |
2.1E6 |
4.1E6 |
1.8 |
5102.4 |
41.8 |
1.3E6 |
2.8E6 |
2.0 |
6378.0 |
45.0 |
9.5E5 |
1.9E6 |
2.2 |
7653.6 |
47.6 |
6.5E5 |
1.3E6 |
2.4 |
8929.2 |
49.8 |
5.2E5 |
1.1E6 |
2.6 |
10204.8 |
51.7 |
4.2E5 |
8.8E5 |
2.8 |
11480.4 |
53.3 |
3.6E5 |
7.0E5 |
3.0 |
12756.0 |
54.7 |
2.8E5 |
5.4E5 |
3.5 |
15945.0 |
57.7 |
2.0E5 |
4.0E5 |
4.0 |
19134.0 |
60.0 |
1.2E5 |
2.4E5 |
4.5 |
22323.0 |
61.9 |
8.0E4 |
1.7E5 |
5.0 |
25512.0 |
63.4 |
4.7E4 |
1.1E5 |
|| 5.5 || 28701.0 || 64.8 || - || - || || 6.0 || 31890.0 || 65.9 || - || - ||
IRI - International Reference Ionosphere http://modelweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/ionos/iri.html
Ionospheric Conductivity http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ionocond/exp/icexp.html
The Satellite Environment Handbook