Photographs taken on early space shuttle flights have indicated the presence of a surface glow in the ram direction. Examination of airglow data from the AE and DE satellites has shown the presence of a similar glow, suggesting that the phenomenon is general to spacecraft in low Earth orbit, with the emission being concentrated in the ram direction. Several explanations have been offered for the glow: (1) hydrogen and oxygen formed by surface reactions of fast oxygen atoms; (2) plasma discharge mechanism; (3) surface-induced decompositions of diatomic nitrogen followed by recombination into an excited state; (4) surface emission by impact of diatomic nitrogen and oxygen; and (5) near-continuum emission in the region 400-800 nm for electronically excited nitrogen dioxide. With reference to the last hypothesis we discuss her data on the number density of nitrogen dioxide measured inside the payload bay of the shuttle orbiter. We also derive fluxes of nitrogen dioxide near shuttle surfaces. Our data are shown to be consistent with the hypothesis of the glow being caused by nitrogen dioxide emission.


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    Title :

    Nitrogen Dioxide Emitted from Space Shuttle Surfaces and Shuttle Glow


    Contributors:
    U. von Zahn (author) / E. Murad (author)

    Publication date :

    1986


    Size :

    3 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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