Characterizing Small-Scale Sporadic E Layer Irregularities Using In-Situ Distributed Density Measurements

In August 2022, the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Laboratory launched SpEED Demon, a tech demo sounding rocket from Wallops Flight Facility. The main payload was equipped with a suite of instruments including a Sweeping Langmuir Probe (SLP), 6 individual multi-Needle Langmuir Probes (mNLP), and a Planar Ion Probe (PIP), as well as four ejectable subpayloads, each containing one PIP. This instrument package provided 5kHz distributed electron density measurements through a nighttime Sporadic-E (Es) layer. Both the main payload and ejectables measured small-scale irregularities within the main Es layer varying slightly in altitude. The power spectra of the measured density fluctuations are presented. Spectral characteristics are compared to previous in-situ data and the existence of instabilities at the Es layer boundaries are investigated.