5 research outputs found
The Plasma and Suprathermal Ion Composition (PLASTIC) Investigation on the STEREO Observatories
The Plasma and Suprathermal Ion Composition (PLASTIC) investigation on the STEREO observatories
The Plasma and Suprathermal Ion Composition (PLASTIC) investigation provides the in situ solar wind and low energy heliospheric ion measurements for the NASA Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory Mission, which consists of two spacecraft (STEREO-A, STEREO-B). PLASTIC-A and PLASTIC-B are identical. Each PLASTIC is a time-of-flight/energy mass spectrometer designed to determine the elemental composition, ionic charge states, and bulk flow parameters of major solar wind ions in the mass range from hydrogen to iron. PLASTIC has nearly complete angular coverage in the ecliptic plane and an energy range from âŒ0.3 to 80 keV/e, from which the distribution functions of suprathermal ions, including those ions created in pick-up and local shock acceleration processes, are also provided
First multispacecraft ion measurements in and near the Earthâs magnetosphere with the identical Cluster ion spectrometry (CIS) experiment
On board the four Cluster
spacecraft, the Cluster Ion Spectrometry (CIS) experiment measures the full,
three-dimensional ion distribution of the major magnetospheric ions (H+,
He+, He++, and O+) from the thermal energies
to about 40 keV/e. The experiment consists of two different instruments: a
COmposition and DIstribution Function analyser (CIS1/CODIF), giving the mass
per charge composition with medium (22.5°) angular resolution, and a Hot Ion
Analyser (CIS2/HIA), which does not offer mass resolution but has a better
angular resolution (5.6°) that is adequate for ion beam and solar wind
measurements. Each analyser has two different sensitivities in order to
increase the dynamic range. First tests of the instruments (commissioning
activities) were achieved from early September 2000 to mid January 2001, and
the operation phase began on 1 February 2001. In this paper, first results of
the CIS instruments are presented showing the high level performances and
capabilities of the instruments. Good examples of data were obtained in the
central plasma sheet, magnetopause crossings, magnetosheath, solar wind and
cusp measurements. Observations in the auroral regions could also be obtained
with the Cluster spacecraft at radial distances of 4â6 Earth radii. These
results show the tremendous interest of multispacecraft measurements with
identical instruments and open a new area in magnetospheric and solar
wind-magnetosphere interaction physics.Key words. Magnetospheric physics
(magnetopause, cusp and boundary layers; magnetopheric configuration and
dynamics; solar wind - magnetosphere interactions