On the interaction effects of ionospheric plasma with dipole magnetic field of the spectrometer AMS-02 moving onboard of international space station

Abstract

When the large-scale spectrometer AMS-02 with the super-conductive coils will be installed at ISS, their residual magnetic field could be effective dipole-like obstacle to form a so called “Magnisphere” in front of AMS due to its interaction with the plasma of ionosphere under conditions of super-sonic, but sub-alfvenic ISS velocity. The boundary (between magnetic field and plasma, at distance RN ∼ 5÷8 m from AMS) of such “Magnisphere” or other mini-magnetospheres, could essentially disturb the whole plasma and electromagnetic environments of ISS due to various small- and large-scale plasma instabilities or waves generation. Therefore we discuss a relevant actual problem and specific features of “Magnisphere” formation, structure and dynamics under essentially non-MHD conditions of the interaction between a dipole and plasma flow, when its directed ion Larmor is in a few times larger than RN. Preliminary data of the laboratory and numerical simulations for such extremely non-MHD dipole-plasma interaction are presented.