Venus Express science exploitation

这项研究提案概述了一个研究金星与太阳风之间相互作用的项目，并将结果与在地球上观察到的结果进行比较。与地球不同的是，金星本身并没有磁场。这意味着它与太阳风相互作用的区域将与在地球上观察到的大不相同。开始，这两颗行星都是超音速太阳风的障碍。因此，两者都在行星体的上游拥有冲击波。这个冲击波必须减速并使太阳风转向行星障碍物周围。该提案的一部分将调查激波内部和周围发生的过程，以确定太阳风的能量如何在入射粒子之间重新分配。确定冲击波的厚度也很重要，因为这对冲击波内部可能发生的过程及其演变有影响。在冲击波的后面是磁鞘，这是一个由太阳风穿过冲击波时产生的湍流等离子体区域。我们在这一地区的研究目标是理解和解释这种湍流，即从激波开始的能量再分配过程继续下去时发生的过程。磁鞘下游边缘的边界因我们研究的是地球还是金星而异。在地球上，这个边界是磁层顶，标志着地球磁场所产生的空腔的边缘。然而，在金星上，电离层形成了太阳风流动的障碍。将电离层与太阳风流动分开的边界是电离层顶。就像风可以在湖面上产生波浪一样，高速的太阳风也可以在电离层顶表面产生波浪。我们将研究这些波的产生和演化。有时，这些波是如此之大，以至于它们形成漩涡。在金星，这些涡旋将混合来自磁鞘和电离层的等离子体，这可能导致电离层等离子体的损失。将研究这些涡旋的发生、增长和相互作用，以确定它们的形态以及对太阳风条件和电离层状态的依赖性。这项研究的结果将提供一个很好的了解金星如何与太阳风相互作用，以及这种相互作用如何取决于当前的太阳风条件。所获得的信息将对行星和太阳物理学家以及研究超新星和星系喷流等物体的天文学家有用。

This research proposal outlines a project to study the interaction between the planet Venus and the solar wind, comparing the results to those observed at the Earth. Unlike the Earth, the planet Venus does not possess magnetic field generated within the planet itself. This means that areas of its interaction with the solar wind will be quite different from that observed at the Earth. To begin with, both planets are obstacles in the supersonic solar wind. As a result, both possess a shock wave upstream of the planetary body. This shock wave has to decelerate and deflect the solar wind around the planetary obstacle. Part of the proposal will investigate the processes occurring within and around the shock to determine how the energy from the solar wind is redistributed among the incoming particles. It is also important to determine the thickness of the shock because this has implications on the processes that can occur within the shock and its evolution. Behind the shock lies the magnetosheath, a region of turbulent plasma created from the solar wind as it passed through the shock. The goal of our research in this region is to understand and characterise this turbulence in terms of the processes occurring as the energy redistribution process that started at the shock continues. The boundary at the downstream edge of the magnetosheath differs depending on whether we are studying Earth of Venus. At the Earth, this boundary is the magnetopause and marks the edge of the cavity created be the Earth's magnetic field. At Venus, however, it is the ionosphere that forms the obstacle in the solar wind flow. The boundary that separates the ionosphere from the solar wind flow is the ionopause. Just as the wind can create waves of the surface of a lake, the high speed solar wind can cerate waves on the surface of the ionopause. We will study the generation and evolution of these waves. Sometimes, these waves are so large that they form vortices. At Venus, these vortices will mix plasma from the magnetosheath and ionosphere, which can result in the loss of plasma from the ionosphere. The occurrence, growth and interaction of these vortices will be studied to determine their morphology and dependence on the solar wind conditions and state of the ionosphere. The results of this research will provide a good understanding of how Venus interacts with the solar wind and how this interaction depends upon the current solar wind conditions. The information gained will be of use to planetary and solar physicists as well as astronomers studying objects such as supernovae and galactic jets.