The comet Halley dust and gas environment

Quantitative descriptions of environments near the nucleus of comet P /Halley have been developed to support spacecraft and mission design for the flyby encounters in March, 1986. To summarize these models as they exist just before the encounters, we review the relevant data from prior Halley apparitions and from recent cometary research. Orbital elements, visual magnitudes, and parameter values and analysis for the nucleus, gas and dust are combined to predict Halley's position, production rates, gas and dust distributions, and electromagnetic radiation field for the current perihelion passage. The predicted numerical results have been useful for estimating likely spacecraft effects, such as impact damage and attitude perturbation. Sample applications are cited, including design of a dust shield for spacecraft structure, and threshold and dynamic range selection for flight experiments. We expect that the comet's activity may be more irregular than these smoothly varying models predict, and that comparison with the flyby data will be instructive.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43774/1/11214_2004_Article_BF00175326.pd

Charged dust in the Earth's magnetosphere

We have considered the electrodynamic effects on small Al 2 O 3 spherules dumped into the Earth's magnetosphere in large quantities during solid rocket propellant burns. The charges acquired by these grains in all regions of the terrestrial environment (plasmasphere, magnetosphere, and solar wind) are modest. Consequently electrodynamic effects are significant only at the lower end of the dust size spectrum ( R g ≲0.1 μm). In that case, the electrodynamic forces conspire with solar radiation pressure to eliminate the grains from the magnetosphere in a comparatively short time. Although not studied here in detail, we anticipate a similar fate for fine micrometeoroids entering the Earth's magnetosphere, with the electro-dynamic effects playing an even more important role.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41870/1/10509_2004_Article_BF00793182.pd