Plasma inhomogeneities and radiowave scattering in experiments with electron pulses in the ionosphere

The absorption of telemetry radiosignals at frequencies of 250 and 75 MHz, transmitted from rockets, was observed in the ARAKS and Zarnitza 2 rocket experiments, respectively, with electron pulses in the ionosphere. The signals were registered with ground receivers. Four cases of complete signal absorption on the propagation path were observed in the ARAKS experiment. The radio absorption at frequencies substantially higher than the plasma and upper hybrid frequencies can be related to wave scattering by plasma inhomogeneities. It has been indicated that plasma inhomogeneities were generated when electrostatic oscillations damped in the region with decreased plasma density at a decrease in the natural oscillation phase volume in the frequency-wave vector space with decreasing plasma density. The observed radio absorption could be related to reflectionless wave scattering in an inhomogeneous plasma structure.