CURRENT COLLECTION BY A HIGHLY POSITIVE BODY MOVING IN THE IONOSPHERIC PLASMA

In this paper we derive an interesting feature of the space charge reg ion surrounding a positively charged body moving in a magnetoplasma an d, precisely, the fact that, for potentials of the body in excess of a certain value, at least in an inner region close to the body, the ele ctron collection (and the structure of the self-consistent potential) is isotropic. This is used to derive current-voltage characteristics f or such a situation. These theoretical characteristics are then convin cingly compared with those obtained from the analysis of the data obta ined during the recently flown TSS-1R mission.