Approaches to studying the multiscale ionospheric structure using nanosatellites

Abstract

Permanent variation in parameters affecting the key characteristics of the auroral ionosphere hinders the creation of a sufficiently accurate model for practical application within classical approaches describing quasi-stationary phenomena. The fractal approach for describing the properties of plasma in the auroral region has the following advantages: the results are versatile and the emergence of self-similar structures is nature-independent. Due to the self-similarity and fractality of ionospheric structures, it will suffice to have a few measurements within a characteristic scale; therefore, it is necessary to obtain a series of simultaneous measurements at intervals of tens of meters to tens of kilometers to describe the spatial and temporal distribution of inhomogeneities in the ionospheric plasma. Small and relatively low-cost satellites (the socalled cubesats) are supposed to be used to check whether the fractal approach can be applied to study the inhomogeneous structure of the ionosphere, including with artificial heating. The satellites should be located at different distances from each other to span the scales ranging from the inertial length of electrons to the inertial length of O⁺ ions. For each satellite, it is supposed to measure the variations in plasma density and electric and magnetic fields.