Energy deposition in the upper atmosphere in the EXCEDE III experiment

The EXCEDE III sounding rocket flight of April 27, 1990 used a ∼18 Ampere ∼2.5 keV electron beam to produce an artificial aurora in the region ∼90 to ∼115 km. A “daughter” sensor payload remotely monitored the low-energy X-ray spectrum while scanning photometers measured the spatial profile of prompt emissions of N 2 + (1N) and N 2 (2P) transitions (3914Å and 3805Å, respectively). Two Ebert-Fastie spectrometers measured the spectral region from 1800 to 8000Å. On the “mother” accelerator payload, the return current electron differential energy spectra were monitored by an electrostatic analyzer (up to 10 keV) and by a retarding potential analyzer (0 eV to 100 eV). We present an overview of the results from this experiment.