The HelioSwarm mission aims to characterize plasma turbulence, a fundamental process affecting space weather and cosmic phenomena, including interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and corotating interaction regions (CIRs) from the sun. These characterizations will be driven by nine spacecraft—one central hub and eight smaller nodes—for multi-scale, multi-point measurements of solar wind and interplanetary magnetic fields. The Electron Electrostatic Spectrograph will be located on the hub and it is the only direct electron measurement tool in the swarm. This project requires the design of integrated circuits for the functionality of the electron electrostatic spectrograph, which measures electrons by using electrostatic fields to filter electrons based on their energy spectra. By analyzing the spectrum of electron energies, we can determine the electron density and temperature. This together with measurements from other instruments gives us insight to plasma properties such as indicating if they are pristine solar wind or magnetosheath plasmas and the magnetic topology.
Project is currently funded by: Federal