TSS‐1R electron currents: Magnetic limited collection from a heated presheath

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Abstract
We show that currents collected by TSS‐1R are consistent with Parker‐Murphy magnetic limited collection from the ionosphere where the local electron temperatures are elevated as observed during the first TSS‐1 mission. An analytic development of the previous Katz et al. [1994] presheath model is presented. This model accounts for the heating that occurs as electrons fall through the potentials necessary to reflect the ram ions while satisfying the Bohm sheath stability criterion. This presheath model is coupled to a sheath sized to the Parker‐Murphy collection radius to predict the current collected by TSS‐1R. The resultant currents are 2 to 3 times larger than for the standard Parker‐Murphy collection model and are consistent with observations.