Speaker
Description
The Sweeping Langmuir Probe (SLP) instrument on board the Pico-Satellite for Atmospheric and Space Science Observations (PICASSO) has been developed at the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy. PICASSO, an ESA in-orbit demonstrator launched in September 2020, is a triple unit CubeSat flying at about 540 km altitude with 97 degrees inclination.
The SLP instrument includes four independent cylindrical probes. By sweeping the potential of a probe with respect to the plasma potential while measuring the current from this probe, the instrument acquires a current-voltage characteristic from which the electron density and temperature, ion density and spacecraft potential are retrieved. The instrument electronics box fit into an envelope of 104 x 98 x 25 mm. The mass of the whole instrument (electrics box together with the four probes, booms and harnesses) is just over 150 g.
Along the orbit of PICASSO, the plasma density is expected to fluctuate over a wide range, from about 1e8/m³ at high latitude up to 1e13/m³ at low/mid latitude. The electron temperature is expected to lie between approximately 1000 K and 10.000 K.
Given the high inclination of the orbit, the SLP instrument will allow a global monitoring of the ionosphere with a maximum spatial resolution of the order of a few hundred meters. The main goals are to study 1) the ionosphere-plasmasphere coupling, 2) the subauroral ionosphere and corresponding magnetospheric features, 3) auroral structures, 4) polar caps, and 5) ionospheric dynamics. Subject to successful commissioning, the first results of SLP will be presented at the workshop.
