RPC-IES: The Ion and Electron Sensor of the Rosetta Plasma Consortium

Abstract

Abstract. The ion and electron sensor (IES) is part of the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC). The IES consists of two electrostatic plasma analyzers, one each for ions and electrons, which share a common entrance aperture. Each analyzer covers an energy/charge range from 1 eV/e to 22 keV/e with a resolution of 4%. Electrostatic deflection is used at the entrance aperture to achieve a field of view of 90 • × 360 • (2.8π sr). Angular resolution is 5 • × 22.5 • for electrons and 5 • × 45 • for ions with the sector containing the solar wind being further segmented to 5 • × 5 • . The three-dimensional plasma distributions obtained by IES will be used to investigate the interaction of the solar wind with asteroids Steins and Lutetia and the coma and nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (CG). In addition, photoelectron spectra obtained at these bodies will help determine their composition.

Fast Plasma Investigation for Magnetospheric Multiscale

“…This deflected angle is referred to here as the azimuth angle, consistent with the notion of the spacecraft azimuthal coordinate corresponding to spin phase. Previous examples of space plasma instruments which have used such FOV deflection can be found in Carlson et al (2001), , Burch et al (2007) and McComas et al (2013).…”

Mass-loading, pile-up, and mirror-mode waves at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

“…2. From top to bottom the following is shown: the Ion and Electron Spectrometer (IES, Burch et al, 2006) time-energy spectrogram, the Ion Composition Analyser (ICA, Nilsson et al, 2006) time-energy spectrogram, the low-pass filtered magnetic field components in Cometocentric Solar EQuatorial (CSEQ 1 ) coordinates from the Magnetometer (MAG, Glassmeier et al, 2007); the magnetic field strength, the Mutual Impedance Probe (MIP, Trotignon et al, 2006) deduced electron densities; the LAngmuir Probe (LAP, Eriksson et al, 2006) P1 current, the IES ion and electron density; the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA, Balsiger et al, 2007) Cometary Pressure Sensor (COPS) neutral density; the location of the spacecraft with respect to the comet; the IES ion velocity in CSEQ and the angles of the ion velocity with the radial direction to the comet and with the magnetic field direction. (k) The angle η between the velocity vector and the radial direction to the comet and the angle ζ between the ion velocity vector and the magnetic field vector.…”

Statistical analysis of suprathermal electron drivers at 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

“…The IES is a plasma spectrometer on board Rosetta and is a member of the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (Burch et al 2007; Carr ). The IES counts ions and electrons with a pair of stacked, toroidal electrostatic analysers from 4.3 eV q −1 to 18 keV q −1 with 8 per cent E/E energy resolution.…”

“…In order to convert measurements of raw counts into physical units, we rely on a geometric factor characterized through laboratory testing prior to the launch of Rosetta (Burch et al 2007). However, Broiles et al (2016) found that laboratory testing could not account for all possible distortions, including spacecraft blockages, differential sensitivity between detectors, or the ageing of spacecraft components in flight.…”