Complex analysis of the ionospheric response to operation of “Progress” cargo spacecraft according to the data of GNSS receivers in Baikal region

Abstract

As part of the Plasma—Progress and Radar—Progress space experiments performed from 2006 to 2014, effects of Progress spacecraft engines on the ionosphere have been studied using data from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. 72 experiments have been carried out. All these experiments were based on data from the worldwide IGS network of GNSS receivers to record ionospheric plasma irregularities caused by engine operation. 35 experiments used data from the ISTP SB RAS SibNet network. The analysis of the spatio-temporal pattern of total electron content (TEC) variations has shown that the problem of identifying the TEC response to engine operation is complicated by a number of factors: 1) the engine effect on ionospheric plasma is strongly localized in space and has a relatively low intensity; 2) a small number of satellite—receiver radio rays due to the small number of GNSS stations, particularly before 2013; 3) a potential TEC response is masked with background ionospheric disturbances of various intensity. However, TEC responses are identified with certainty when a satellite—receiver radio ray crosses a disturbed region within minutes after exposure. TEC responses have been registered in 7 experiments (10 % of cases). The amplitude of ionospheric response (0.3–0.16 TECU) exceeded the background TEC variations (~0.25 TECU) several times. The TEC data indicate that the ionospheric irregularity lifetime is from 4 to 10 minutes. According to the estimates we made, the transverse size of irregularities is from 12 to 30 km.