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Testing the Solar Probe Cup, An Instrument Designed to Touch The SunAbstract: Solar Probe Plus will be the first, fastest, and closest mission to the Sun, providing the first direct sampling of the sub-Alfvénic corona. The Solar Probe Cup (SPC) is a unique re-imagining of the traditional Faraday Cup design and materials for immersion in this high temperature environment. Sending an instrument of this type into a never-seen particle environment requires extensive characterization prior to launch to establish sufficient measurement accuracy and instrument response. To reach this end, a slew of tests are created for allowing SPC to see ranges of appropriate ions and electrons, as well as a facility that reproduces solar photon spectra and fluxes for this mission. Having already tested the SPC at flight-like temperatures with no significant modification of the noise floor, we recently completed a round of particle testing to see if the deviations in Faraday Cup design fundamentally change the operation of the instrument. Results and implications from these tests will be presented, as well as performance comparisons to cousin instruments such as those on the WIND spacecraft.
Document ID
20150001401
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Presentation
Authors
Whittlesey, Phyllis
(Alabama Univ. Huntsville, AL, United States)
Case, Anthony
(Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, MA, United States)
Kasper, Justin
(Michigan Univ. Ann Arbor, MI, United States)
Wright, Kenneth
(Alabama Univ. Huntsville, AL, United States)
Alterman, Benjamin
(Michigan Univ. Ann Arbor, MI, United States)
Cirtain, Jonathan
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Bookbinder, Jay
(Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, MA, United States)
Korreck, Kelly
(Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, MA, United States)
Stevens, Michael
(Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, MA, United States)
Schneider, Todd
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Vaughn, Jason
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Date Acquired
February 5, 2015
Publication Date
December 15, 2014
Subject Category
Solar Physics
Instrumentation And Photography
Report/Patent Number
MSFC-E-DAA-TN19923
Meeting Information
Meeting: AGU Fall Meeting
Location: San Francisco, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: December 15, 2014
End Date: December 19, 2014
Sponsors: American Geophysical Union
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNM11AA01A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
solar physics
solar wind
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