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Dual Ion Spectrometers and Their Calibration for the Fast Plasma Investigation on NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale MissionThe scientific target of NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission is to study the fundamentally important phenomenon of magnetic reconnection. Theoretical models of this process predict a small size, on the order of hundred kilometers, for the ion diffusion region where ions are demagnetized at the dayside magnetopause. This region may typically sweep over the spacecraft at relatively high speeds of 50 km/s, requiring the fast plasma investigation (FPI) instrument suite to have an extremely high time resolution for measurements of the 3D particle distribution functions. As part of the FPI on MMS, the 16 dual ion spectrometers (DIS) will provide fast (150 ms) 3D ion velocity distributions, from 10 to 30,000 eV/q, by combining the measurements from four dual spectrometers on each of four MMS spacecraft. For any multispacecraft mission, the response uniformity among the spectrometer set assumes an enhanced importance. Due to these demanding instrument requirements and the effort of calibrating more than 32 sensors (16 × 2) within a tight schedule, a highly systematic and precise calibration was required for measurement repeatability. To illustrate how this challenge was met, a brief overview of the FPI DIS was presented with a detailed discussion of the calibration method of approach and implementation. Finally, a discussion of DIS performance results, their unit-to-unit variation, and the lessons learned from this calibration effort are presented.
Document ID
20170005532
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Technical Publication (TP)
Authors
Coffey, V. N.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Chandler, M. O.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
June 13, 2017
Publication Date
April 1, 2017
Subject Category
Space Sciences (General)
Report/Patent Number
NASA/TP-2017-218237
M-1429
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 943396.05.03.02.08.02
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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