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The FIELDS Instrument Suite on MMS: Scientific Objectives, Measurements, and Data ProductsThe FIELDS instrumentation suite on the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission provides comprehensive measurements of the full vector magnetic and electric fields in the reconnection regions investigated by MMS, including the dayside magnetopause and the night-side magnetotail acceleration regions out to 25 Re. Six sensors on each of the four MMS spacecraft provide overlapping measurements of these fields with sensitive cross-calibrations both before and after launch. The FIELDS magnetic sensors consist of redundant flux-gate magnetometers (AFG and DFG) over the frequency range from DC to 64 Hz, a search coil magnetometer (SCM) providing AC measurements over the full whistler mode spectrum expected to be seen on MMS, and an Electron Drift Instrument (EDI) that calibrates offsets for the magnetometers. The FIELDS three-axis electric field measurements are provided by two sets of biased double-probe sensors (SDP and ADP) operating in a highly symmetric spacecraft environment to reduce significantly electrostatic errors. These sensors are complemented with the EDI electric measurements that are free from all local spacecraft perturbations. Cross-calibrated vector electric field measurements are thus produced from DC to 100 kHz, well beyond the upper hybrid resonance whose frequency provides an accurate determination of the local electron density. Due to its very large geometric factor, EDI also provides very high time resolution (∼1 ms) ambient electron flux measurements at a few selected energies near 1 keV. This paper provides an overview of the FIELDS suite, its science objectives and measurement requirements, and its performance as verified in calibration and cross-calibration procedures that result in anticipated errors less than 0.1 nT in B and 0.5 mV/m in E. Summaries of data products that result from FIELDS are also described, as well as algorithms for cross-calibration. Details of the design and performance characteristics of AFG/DFG, SCM, ADP, SDP, and EDI are provided in five companion papers.
Document ID
20180007654
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Torbert, R. B.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Russell, C. T.
(California Univ. Los Angeles, CA, United States)
Magnes, W.
(Space Research Institute Graz, Austria)
Ergun, R. E.
(Colorado Univ. Boulder, CO, United States)
Lindqvist, P.-A.
(Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas. Paris, France)
LeContel, O.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Vaith, H.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Macri, J.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Myers, S.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Rau, D.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Needell, J.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
King, B.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Granoff, M.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Chutter, M.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Dors, I.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Olsson, G.
(Välkommen Till Kth Stockholm, Sweden)
Khotyaintsev, Y. V.
(Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala, Sweden)
Eriksson, A.
(Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala, Sweden)
Kletzing, C. A.
(Iowa Univ. Iowa City, IA, United States)
Bounds, S.
(Iowa Univ. Iowa City, IA, United States)
Anderson, B.
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Laurel, MD, United States)
Baumjohann, W.
(Space Research Institute Graz, Austria)
Steller, M.
(Space Research Institute Graz, Austria)
Bromund, K.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Le, Guan
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Nakamura, R.
(Space Research Institute Graz, Austria)
Strangeway, R. J.
(California Univ. Los Angeles, CA, United States)
Leinweber, H. K.
(California Univ. Los Angeles, CA, United States)
Tucker, S.
(Colorado Univ. Boulder, CO, United States)
Westfall, J.
(Colorado Univ. Boulder, CO, United States)
Fischer, D.
(Space Research Institute Graz, Austria)
Plaschke, F.
(Space Research Institute Graz, Austria)
Porter, J.
(Oulu University Oulu, Finland)
Lappalainen, K.
(Oulu University Oulu, Finland)
Date Acquired
November 13, 2018
Publication Date
November 19, 2014
Publication Information
Publication: Space Science Reviews
Publisher: Springer Verlag
Volume: 199
Issue: 4-Jan
ISSN: 0038-6308
e-ISSN: 1572-9672
Subject Category
Space Radiation
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN24304
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG04EB99C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Electromagnetic field measurements
Magnetic field reconnection

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