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Instrument: TIDE : Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment |
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Associated Platforms POLAR Related Data Sets View all records related to this instrument Description The Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment (TIDE) and Plasma Source Instrument (PSI) have been developed in response to the requirements of the ISTP Program for three-dimensional plasma composition measurements capable of tracking the outflow of ionospheric plasma throughout the magnetosphere. This plasma is in part lost to the downstream solar wind and in part recirculated within the magnetosphere, participating in the formation of the diamagnetic hot plasma sheet and ring current plasma populations. Significant obstacles which have previously made this task impossible include the low density and energy of the outflowing ionospheric plasma plume and the positive spacecraft floating potentials which exclude the low-energy plasma from detection on ordinary spacecraft. Based on a unique combination of focusing electrostatic ion optics and time of 3 flight detection and mass analysis, TIDE provides the unprecedented sensitivity (seven channels at 0.1 cm2 sr each) and resolution required for this purpose. PSI will produce a low energy plasma locally at the POLAR spacecraft which will provide the ion current required to balance the photoelectron current, along with a low temperature electron population, thus regulating the spacecraft potential at a few tenths of a volt positive relative to the space plasma. For more information, see: http://satyr.msfc.nasa.gov/TIDE/ and http://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/polar/polar_inst.shtml Online Resources http://xd12srv1.nsstc.nasa.gov/ssl/PAD/sppb/index_Tide.html http://tide.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Instrument Logistics Instrument Start Date: 1996-02-24 Instrument Owner: SW Research Labs Los Alamos National Lab Centre d'etude des Environnements Terrestre et Planetaires, France Hughes Research Labs |
