AUTHOR=Reeves Geoffrey D. , Delzanno Gian Luca , Fernandes Philip A. , Yakymenko Kateryna , Carlsten Bruce E. , Lewellen John W. , Holloway Michael A. , Nguyen Dinh C. , Pfaff Robert F. , Farrell William M. , Rowland Douglas E. , Samara Marilia , Sanchez Ennio R. , Spanswick Emma , Donovan Eric F. , Roytershteyn Vadim TITLE=The Beam Plasma Interactions Experiment: An Active Experiment Using Pulsed Electron Beams JOURNAL=Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences VOLUME=7 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/astronomy-and-space-sciences/articles/10.3389/fspas.2020.00023 DOI=10.3389/fspas.2020.00023 ISSN=2296-987X ABSTRACT=

The 1970s and 1980s were heydays for using active electron beam experiments to probe some of the fundamental physical processes that occur throughout the heliosphere and in astrophysical contexts. Electron beam experiments were used to study spacecraft charging and spacecraft-plasma coupling; beam-plasma interaction physics; magnetic bounce and drift physics; auroral physics; wave generation; and military applications. While these experiments were enormously successful, they were also limited by the technologies that were available at that time. New advances in space instrumentation, data collection, and accelerator technologies enable a revolutionary new generation of active experiments using electron beams in space. In this paper we discuss such an experiment, the Beam Plasma Interactions Experiment (Beam PIE), a sounding rocket experiment designed to (a) advance high-electron mobility transistor-based radio frequency (RF) linear accelerator electron technology for space applications and (b) study the production of whistler and X-mode waves by modulated electron beams.