We investigate the critical issue on how the BBF (bursty bulk flow) is related to the substorm current wedge formation. Observationally, after analysing data sets from Geotail spacecraft at near tail and many ground magnetic observatories for 9 months period of 1996, we find three BBF events that clearly occurred at the center of the wedge with region I type FAC (field-aligned current), and two other BBF events that were seen outside the wedge sector. Theoretically, we suggest that the substorm current wedge generation by BBF is most likely when the J⊥ · ∇B contribution is dominant in the well-known MHD JII expression (Vasyliunaus, 1984) or when the divergence of the cross-tail current carried by the particle's gradient/curvature drift is predominantly sufficient at the moment of the BBF arrival at near tail.

Four plasma instruments are currently under development for KAISTSAT-4 (K-4) which is scheduled for launch in 2002. They are the Solid-State Telescope, Electro-Static Analyzer, Langmuir Probe, and the Scientific Magnetometer, that will respectively allow in-situ detection of high energy and low energy components of auroral particles, ionospheric thermal electrons, and magnetic field disturbances. These instruments, together with the Far-ultraviolet IMaging Spectrograph, will provide micro-scale physics of Earth's polar ionosphere with detailed spectral information that has not been previously achieved with other space missions. In this paper, we review the concept of the four space plasma instruments as well as the anticipated results from the instruments.

Two different types of plasma probes have been developed and are currently in operation on board the KOMPSAT-l. One is the cylindrical Langmuir Probe (LP) that measures the electron density and temperature from its current-voltage characteristics in thermal plasmas, and the other is the Electron Temperature Sensor (ETS) which directly gives the information of the ambient electron temperatures. These plasma probes provide the electron properties of the local nighttime ionosphere at the KOMPSAT-l altitudes. In this paper we briefly describe the probes and the initial results obtained from these probes since the beginning of their normal operation in April, 2000.