Advanced Ion Mass Spectrometer for Giant Planet Ionosphere, Magnetospheres and Moons

POSTER

Abstract

We present our Advanced Ion Mass Spectrometer (AIMS) for outer planet missions which has been under development from various NASA sources (NASA Living with a Star Instrument Development (LWSID), NASA Astrobiology Instrument Development (ASTID), NASA Goddard Internal Research and Development (IRAD)s) to measure elemental, isotopic, and simple molecular composition abundances of 1 V to 25 kV hot ions with wide field-of-view (FOV) in the 1 -- 60 amu mass range at mass resolution M/$\Delta $M $\le $ 60 over a wide dynamic range of particle intensities and penetrating radiation background from the inner magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn to the outer magnetospheric boundary regions and the upstream solar wind. This instrument will work for both spinning spacecraft and 3-axis stabilized spacecraft. AIMS will measure the ion velocity distribution functions (VDF) for the individual ion species from which velocity moments will give their ion density, flow velocity and temperature.

Authors

  • Edward Sittler

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  • John Cooper

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  • Nick Paschalidis

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  • Sarah Jones

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  • William Brinkerhoff

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  • William Paterson

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  • Ashraf Ali

    Science, Systems and Applications Inc., Space System and Applications, Inc.

  • Michael C. Coplan

    University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland

  • Dennis Chornay

    University of Maryland College Park

  • Steve Sturner

    University of Maryland Baltimore County

  • Mehdi Benna

    University of Maryland Baltimore County

  • Fred Bateman

    National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Dominique Fontaine

    Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas

  • Christophe Verdeil

    Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas

  • Nicolas Andre

    Institute Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie

  • Michel Blanc

    Institute Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie

  • Peter Wurz

    University of Bern