Interball-2 measurements of the components of thermal and suprathermal plasma (E <= 15 eV) in high-latitude regions of the magnetosphere at altitudesof 2-3R(E)

The KM-7 experiment was carried out on the Interball-2 satellite with the o bject of measuring the electron temperature T-e of thermal plasma in periph eral regions of the plasmasphere and in the auroral zone of the magnetosphe re at altitudes of 2-3 radii of the Earth. The results of T-e measurements showed that the Maxwellian electron energy distribution, though assumed to dominate in the indicated regions when designing the apparatus, turned out to be invalid in most cases. Because of this, the current-voltage character istics of a spherical probe were recorded and processed with the aim of che cking the Maxwellian electron distribution. To this end, a numerical model was developed for the probe characteristics, as applied to the experimental conditions. The model was used to obtain, for the first time, reliable det ailed data on the structure of thermal plasma in the high-latitude magnetos phere at altitudes of up to 20 000 km. The model is briefly described, and the first results are presented.