Laboratory measurements of the performances of the Sweeping Langmuir Probe instrument aboard the PICASSO CubeSat

IF 1.8 4区地球科学 Q3 GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Geoscientific Instrumentation Methods and Data Systems Pub Date : 2023-01-05 DOI:10.5194/gi-12-1-2023

S. Ranvier, J. Lebreton

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Abstract

Abstract. The Sweeping Langmuir Probe (SLP) is one of the instruments on board the triple-unit CubeSat PICASSO, an ESA in-orbit demonstrator launched in September 2020, which is flying at about 540 km altitude. SLP comprises four small cylindrical probes mounted at the tip of the solar panels. It aims to perform in situ measurements of the plasma parameters (electron density and temperature together with ion density) and of the spacecraft potential in the ionosphere. Before the launch, the instrument, accommodated on an electrically representative PICASSO mock-up, was tested in a plasma chamber. It is shown that the traditional orbital-motion-limited collection theory used for cylindrical Langmuir probes cannot be applied directly for the interpretation of the measurements because of the limited dimensions of the probes with respect to the Debye length in the ionosphere. Nevertheless, this method can be adapted to take into account the short length of the probes. To reduce the data downlink while keeping the most important information in the current-voltage characteristics, SLP includes an on-board adaptive sweeping capability. This functionality has been validated in both the plasma chamber and in space, and it is demonstrated that with a reduced number of data points the electron retardation and electron saturation regions can be well resolved. Finally, the effect of the contamination of the probe surface, which can be a serious issue in Langmuir probe data analysis, has been investigated. If not accounted for properly, this effect could lead to substantial errors in the estimation of the electron temperature.

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PICASSO立方体卫星上扫频朗缪尔探针仪器性能的实验室测量

摘要扫频朗缪尔探测器（SLP）是三重单元立方体卫星PICASSO上的仪器之一，这是欧空局于2020年9月发射的轨道探测卫星，飞行速度约为540 千米海拔。SLP包括四个安装在太阳能电池板尖端的小型圆柱形探针。它旨在对电离层中的等离子体参数（电子密度、温度和离子密度）和航天器电势进行原位测量。发射前，该仪器安装在一个具有电气代表性的PICASSO模型上，在等离子体室中进行了测试。结果表明，由于圆柱形郎缪尔探测器相对于电离层中的德拜长度的尺寸有限，传统的轨道运动有限收集理论不能直接应用于测量的解释。然而，这种方法可以适用于考虑探针的短长度。为了减少数据下载，同时保持当前电压特性中最重要的信息，SLP包括板载自适应扫描功能。这种功能已经在等离子体室和太空中得到了验证，并证明随着数据点数量的减少，电子延迟和电子饱和区域可以很好地分辨。最后，研究了探针表面污染的影响，这可能是Langmuir探针数据分析中的一个重要问题。如果不适当考虑，这种效应可能会导致电子温度估计的重大误差。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Geoscientific Instrumentation Methods and Data Systems GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARYMETEOROLOGY-METEOROLOGY & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

CiteScore

3.70

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

37 weeks

期刊介绍： Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems (GI) is an open-access interdisciplinary electronic journal for swift publication of original articles and short communications in the area of geoscientific instruments. It covers three main areas: (i) atmospheric and geospace sciences, (ii) earth science, and (iii) ocean science. A unique feature of the journal is the emphasis on synergy between science and technology that facilitates advances in GI. These advances include but are not limited to the following: concepts, design, and description of instrumentation and data systems; retrieval techniques of scientific products from measurements; calibration and data quality assessment; uncertainty in measurements; newly developed and planned research platforms and community instrumentation capabilities; major national and international field campaigns and observational research programs; new observational strategies to address societal needs in areas such as monitoring climate change and preventing natural disasters; networking of instruments for enhancing high temporal and spatial resolution of observations. GI has an innovative two-stage publication process involving the scientific discussion forum Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems Discussions (GID), which has been designed to do the following: foster scientific discussion; maximize the effectiveness and transparency of scientific quality assurance; enable rapid publication; make scientific publications freely accessible.