Discriminating contamination from particle components in spectra of Cassini's dust detector CDA

The Chemical Analyser subsystem of the Cosmic Dust Analyser (CDA) aboard the Cassini spacecraft performs in situ measurements of the chemical composition of dust in space. The instrument records time-of-flight mass spectra of cations, extracted from the impact cloud that is created by high-velocity particle impacts onto the detector target. Thus, the spectra not only show signals of particle components but also of ions from the target material and target contamination. The aim of this work is to determine which non-particle ions are to be expected in the spectra obtained in space operation at Saturn.We present an analysis of the contamination state of the instrument's impact target. Beside investigations of the purity of the rhodium target surface, spectra from CDA calibration experiments at the dust accelerator facility are evaluated with regard to contamination signatures. Furthermore, contamination mass lines in spectra obtained by impacts of Jovian and Saturnian dust stream particles are analysed. Due to their small size and high speed, stream particle impacts predominantly produce ions from the target material and therefore the spectra are excellent probes of the contamination state of the target operating in space. With the exception of adsorbed hydrogen and carbon, the level of contamination is very low.Implications for CDA spectra of Saturnian E ring particle impacts are derived. The findings confirm the published interpretations. The low level of alkali metal contamination implies a significant sodium contribution in the composition of E ring ice particles. Additionally, ionisation thresholds for the occurrence of contamination mass lines can be utilised to set limits for the impact velocity.     

The composition of Saturn's E ring

We present the first in situ direct measurement of the composition of particles in Saturn's rings. The Cassini cosmic dust analyser (CDA) measured the mass spectra of nearly 300 impacting dust particles during the 2004 October E ring crossing. An initial interpretation of the data shows that the particles are predominantly water ice, with minor contributions from possible combinations of silicates, carbon dioxide, ammonia, molecular nitrogen, hydrocarbons and perhaps carbon monoxide. This places constraints on both the composition of Enceladus, the main source of the E ring, as well as the grain formation mechanisms.     

Interactions between the orbiting space shuttle and the ionosphere

This paper presents an analysis of interactions between the space shuttle Orbiter and the ionosphere based on thermal plasma data obtained from a Spherical Retarding Potential Analyzer (SRPA) and a Langmuir Probe (LP) flown on the third Space Shuttle flight (STS-3) in March 1982. While previous work on spacecraft-plasma interactions has dealt with wake effects, the present work deals with effects that are seen in ram conditions that have not been previously discussed. One observation is a higher degree of plasma turbulence than has been reported from unmanned spacecraft measurements that manifests itself as a frequency component at 2.2 kHz in the SRPA signal. We also see unusually high number densities of what appear to be ions with a mass of at least 30 or 32 amu and a temperature in the range 2000–3000 K. Coincident with the enhanced molecular ion species we see the temperature of the thermal electrons elevated to above 5000 K. It is hypothesized that these measurements are evidence for a plasma instability resulting from the motion of the outgassing Orbiter through the ionosphere.     

Observation of saturnian stream particles in the interplanetary space

In January 2004 the dust instrument on the Cassini spacecraft detected the first high-velocity grain expelled from Saturn - a so-called stream particle. Prior to Cassini’s arrival at Saturn in July 2004 the instrument registered 801 faint impacts, whose impact signals showed the characteristic features of a high-velocity impact by a tiny grain. The impact rates as well as the directionality of the stream particles clearly correlate with the sector structure of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The Cosmic Dust Analyser (CDA) registered stream particles dominantly during periods when the IMF direction was tangential to the solar wind flow and in the prograde direction. This finding provides clear evidence for a continuous outflow of tiny dust grains with similar properties from the saturnian system. Within the compressed part of co-rotating interaction regions (CIRs) of the IMF, characterized by enhanced magnetic field strength and compressed solar wind plasma, CDA observed impact bursts of faster stream particles. We find that the bursts result from the stream particles being sped up inside the compressed CIR regions. Our analysis of the stream-particle dynamics inside rarefaction regions of the IMF implies that saturnian stream particles have sizes between 2 and 9 nm and exit the saturnian systems closely aligned with the planet’s ring plane with speeds in excess of 70 km s⁻¹.     

Probing shock geometry via the charge to mass ratio dependence of heavy ion spectra from multiple spacecraft observations of the 2013 November 4 event

In large Solar Energetic Particle(SEP) events, ions can be accelerated at coronal mass ejection(CME)-driven shocks to very high energies. The spectra of heavy ions in many large SEP events show features such as roll-overs or spectral breaks. In some events when the spectra are plotted in terms of energy/nucleon, they can be shifted relative to each other to make the spectral breaks align. The amount of shift is charge to mass ratio(Q/A) dependent and varies from event to event. This can be understood if the spectra of heavy ions are organized by the diffusion coefficients(Cohen et al. 2005). In the work of Li et al.(2009), the Q/A dependence of the scaling is related to shock geometry when the CME-driven shock is close to the Sun. For events where multiple in-situ spacecraft observations exist, one may expect that different spacecraft are connected to different portions of the CME-driven shock that have different shock geometries, therefore yielding different Q/A dependence. In this work, we examine one SEP event which occurred on 2013 November 4. We study the Q/A dependence of the energy scaling for heavy ion spectra using helium, oxygen and iron ions. Observations from STEREO-A, STEREO-B and ACE are examined. We find that the scalings are different for different spacecraft. We suggest that this is because ACE, STEREOA and STEREO-B are connected to different parts of the shock that have different shock geometries. Our analysis indicates that studying the Q/A scaling of in-situ particle spectra can serve as a powerful tool to remotely examine the shock geometry for large SEP events.     

Ion bombardment of interplanetary dust

The recent discovery of ion tracks in interplanetary dust and the increasing evidence for carbon and carburized materials in these objects are strongly suggestive that chemical processing by energetic charged-particle bombardment has occured during the dust lifetimes. The track density gives a measure of the total ion fluence experienced by the grains. We use this information and laboratory data on the modification of icy surfaces by incident ions and electrons to discuss the likelihood that chondritic interplanetary dust particles could have been proceed, by plasma bombardment, from aggregates of particles which had volatile and/or ogranic mantles. Such a processing would leave carbon and carburized deposits and can affect estimates of the temperature of formation of these dust grains.     

The ion-composition of the plasma produced by impacts of fast dust particles

The composition of the impact plasma produced by fast dust particles (v > 1 km/sec) hitting an Au or W target was measured both with a model of the HELIOS micrometeoroid experiment (low electric field at the target) and a high field detector. The plasma composition and the total plasma charge depend strongly on the impact velocity and the electric field strength at the target. Spectra of 9 different projectile-target combinations were analysed. Two types of spectra could be observed, depending on the projectile material. (1) Spectra of metals and hard dielectrics (Mohs' hardness ? 5). Particle constituents of low ionisation energy (e · u ? 7eV, e.g. Na, K, Al) dominate the spectra of these materials at impact velocities below 10 km/sec. At higher speed the relative intensities change and new ions with higher ionisation energies appear. (2) Spectra of soft dielectrics (Mohs' hardness < 3). Below 9 km/sec these materials produced less total charge than did the others. The highest masses were detected at 74 amu. The relative abundance of ions with low ionization energies such as Li, Na, K, etc. is comparatively small. Negative ions were also observed in the impact plasma. Their total number was found to be approximately 3–6% of that of the positive ions at 6 km/sec particle speed.     

Dust acoustic shock waves in a suprathermal dusty plasma with dust charge fluctuation

The properties of small but finite amplitude dust acoustic (DA) shock waves are studied in a charge varying dusty plasma with ions and electrons having kappa velocity distribution. We obtain the global Debye length including the influence of suprathermality effects and dust charge fluctuations. It is shown that the effects of suprathermality of ions/electrons and dust charge fluctuation significantly modify the basic properties of DA shock wave. We observe that only negative DA shock waves will be excited in this model. The amplitude of DA shock wave increases with deviation of electrons or ions from Maxwellian distribution via decrease of spectral index, κ _j (j=i,e denotes, ions and electrons, respectively). Also, it is indicated that the amplitude and steepness of the shock front decreases with an increase in the ion temperature.     

Interplanetary dust detected by the Cassini CDA Chemical Analyser

During its cruise phase, prior to encountering Jupiter, the Cosmic Dust Analyser (CDA) onboard the Cassini spacecraft returned time of flight mass spectra (TOF MS) of two interplanetary dust particles. Both particles were found to be iron-rich, with possible traces of hydrogen, carbon, nickel, chromium, manganese, titanium, vanadium and minor silicates. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and potassium are also present as possible contaminants of the impact target of CDA. Silicates and magnesium do not feature predominantly in the spectra; this is surprising considering the expected dominance of silicate-rich minerals in interplanetary dust particles. The particle masses are and . The corresponding radii ranges for the particles, assuming densities from 7874-2500 kg m⁻³ are 0.7-4 μm and 2.6-6.8 μm, respectively. With the same density assumptions the β values (ratio of radiation pressure to gravitational force) are estimated as 0.027-0.21 and 0.016-0.06 respectively, allowing possible orbits to be calculated. The resulting orbits are bound and prograde with semi-major axes, eccentricities and inclinations in the region of 0.3-1.26 AU, 0.4-1.0 and 0-60° for the first particle and 0.8-2.5 AU, 0.2-0.9 and 0-30° for the second. The more probable orbits within these ranges indicate that the first particle is in an Aten-like orbit, whilst the second particle is in an Apollo-like orbit, despite both grains having very similar, predominantly metallic compositions. Other possible orbital solutions for both particles encompass orbits which more closely resemble those of Jupiter-family comets.     

Ion cyclotron waves at Io: implications for the temporal variation of Io's atmosphere

When the flowing torus plasma encounters the upper atmosphere of Jupiter's moon, Io, newly created ions are rapidly accelerated by the motional electric field. Many of these ions are reneutralized and form a spray of fast neutrals that travel far away from Io before being reionized by photoionization and impact. These ions, now far from Io, are unstable to the generation of ion cyclotron waves. These waves in turn act as a mass spectrometer allowing Galileo magnetic measurements to be used to probe the composition of the atmosphere of Io and how it varies in time and in space. We now have six Galileo passes by Io on which we have measurements with sufficient cadence to examine the ion cyclotron waves. One of these passes, on Galileo's 32nd orbit has not been discussed previously. These passes provide sufficient observations to begin to distinguish the sources of variability. We find that while the atmosphere of Io varies temporally throughout the mission, it also has a spatial variation in composition at any instant of time.     

Dust ion-acoustic shock waves in nonextensive dusty plasma

A parametric survey on the propagation characteristics of the dust ion-acoustic (DIA) shock waves showing the effect of nonextesivity with nonextensive electrons in a dissipative dusty plasma system has been carried out using the reductive perturbation technique. We have considered continuity and momentum equations for inertial ions, q-distributed nonextensive electrons, and stationary charged dust grains, to derive the Burgers equation. It has been found that the basic features of DIA shock waves are significantly modified by the effects of electron nonextensivity and ion kinematic viscosity. Depending on the degree of nonextensivity of electrons, the dust ion-acoustic shock structures exhibit compression and rarefaction. The implications of our results would be useful to understand some astrophysical and cosmological scenarios like stellar polytropes, hadronic matter and quark-gluon plasma, protoneutron stars, dark-matter halos, etc., where effects of nonextensivity can play the significant roles.     

Measuring the plasma environment at Mercury: The fast imaging plasma spectrometer

Abstract— The plasma environment at Mercury is a rich laboratory for studying the interaction of the solar wind with a planet. Three primary populations of ions exist at Mercury: solar wind, magnetospheric, and pickup ions. These pickup ions are generated through the ionization of Mercury's exosphere or are sputtered particles from the Mercury surface. A comprehensive mission to Mercury, such as MESSENGER (MErcury: Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, Ranging), should include a sensor that is able to determine the dynamical properties and composition of all these plasma components. An instrument to measure the composition of these ion populations and their three‐dimensional velocity distribution functions must be lightweight, fast, and have a very large field of view. The fast imaging plasma spectrometer (FIPS) is an imaging mass spectrometer, part of NASA's MESSENGER mission, the first Mercury orbiter. This versatile instrument has a very small footprint, and has a mass that is ?1 order of magnitude less than other comparable systems. It maintains a nearly full‐hemisphere field of view, suitable for either spinning or three‐axis‐stabilized platforms. The major piece of innovation to enable this sensor is a new deflection system geometry that enables a large instantaneous (?1.5π) field of view. This novel electrostatic analyzer system is then combined with a position sensitive time‐of‐flight system. We discuss the design and prototype tests of the FIPS deflection system and show how this system is expected to address one key problem in Mercury science, that of the nature of the radar‐bright regions at the Hermean poles.     

Bifurcations of dust ion acoustic travelling waves in a magnetized quantum dusty plasma

Bifurcation behavior of nonlinear dust ion acoustic travelling waves in a magnetized quantum dusty plasma has been studied. Applying the reductive perturbation technique (RPT), we have derived a Kadomtsev-Petviashili (KP) equation for dust ion acoustic waves (DIAWs) in a magnetized quantum dusty plasma. By using the bifurcation theory of planar dynamical systems to the KP equation, we have proved that our model has solitary wave solutions and periodic travelling wave solutions. We have derived two exact explicit solutions of the above travelling waves depending on different parameters.     

Combined mass spectrometric composition measurements of positive and negative ions in the lower ionosphere—I. Positive ions

Recent improvements in rocket-borne mass spectrometer technology have made it possible to measure lower ionospheric ions with greater sensitivity and to extend the measurements to lower heights. The improvements made to the instrument and positive ion results from a flight of this instrument will be reported here. In addition to the previously known ions, such as NO⁺(H₂O)_n and H⁺(H₂O)_n, new ion species were found. The total fractional count rate of these ions was found to be constant with height indicating an upper altitude source. Possible identifications of these ions are proposed along with possible production mechanisms.     

Influence of arbitrarily charged dust and trapped electrons on propagation of localized dust ion-acoustic waves

A theoretical investigation is developed to study the existence, formation and basic properties of arbitrary amplitude dust ion-acoustic solitary potentials in a dusty plasma consisting of warm ions, trapped electrons and immobile negative (positive) dust particles. It is found a definite interval for the Mach number for which solitary waves exist and depend sensitively on the ion temperature and negative (positive) dust concentration. In addition, the effects of ion temperature, two oppositely charged dust species and resonant electrons on the shape of the solitary waves are also investigated extensively. For both cases of negative and positive dust grains, the effect of ion temperature is found to be destructive for the formation of localized structures. Further, the amplitude of the solitary structures decreases (increases) with the increase in the negative (positive) dust concentration.     

Coupled dispersive drift acoustic modes in inhomogeneous dusty plasmas with different nonthermal distributions for electrons and ions

Linear dispersion characteristics of the coupled drift acoustic modes are investigated in inhomogeneous dusty magnetoplasmas both when the dust is considered immobile and when the dust dynamics is taken into account in the presence of nonthermal population of electrons and ions. In this regard, Cairns and Kappa distributed electrons and ions are considered. It is found that the nonthermal distributions affect the phase velocities and the fundamental scalelengths of the plasma. It is found that for both the ion and dust dynamics driven waves, the phase velocities are highest for Cairns, intermediate for Kappa, whereas they are minimum for the Maxwellian distributed electrons. The work presented here may be useful to understand the low frequency electrostatic modes in inhomogeneous dusty plasmas such as those found in planetary environments.     

Structure of the martian wake

We present the first results from the ion mass analyzer IMA of the ASPERA-3 instrument on-board of Mars Express. More than 200 orbits for May 2004-September 2004 time interval have been selected for the statistical study of the distribution of the atmospheric origin ions in the planetary wake. This study shows that the martian magnetotail consists of two different ion regimes. Planetary origin ions of the first regime form the layer adjacent to the magnetic pile-up boundary. These ions are accelerated to energy greater than 2000 eV and exhibit a gradual decreasing of energy down to the planetary tail. The second plasma regime is observed in the planetary shadow. The heavy ions (considered as planetary ones) are accelerated to the energy of the solar wind protons. Obviously the acceleration mechanism is different for the different plasma regimes. Study of two plasma regimes in the frame referred to the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) direction (we used MGS magnetometer data to obtain the IMF clock angle) clearly shows their spatial anisotropy. The monoenergetic plasma in the planetary shadow is observed only in the narrow angular sector around the positive direction of the interplanetary electric field.     

DuneXpress

The DuneXpress observatory will characterize interstellar and interplanetary dust in-situ, in order to provide crucial information not achievable with remote sensing astronomical methods. Galactic interstellar dust constitutes the solid phase of matter from which stars and planetary systems form. Interplanetary dust, from comets and asteroids, represents remnant material from bodies at different stages of early solar system evolution. Thus, studies of interstellar and interplanetary dust with DuneXpress in Earth orbit will provide a comparison between the composition of the interstellar medium and primitive planetary objects. Hence DuneXpress will provide insights into the physical conditions during planetary system formation. This comparison of interstellar and interplanetary dust addresses directly themes of highest priority in astrophysics and solar system science, which are described in ESA’s Cosmic Vision. The discoveries of interstellar dust in the outer and inner solar system during the last decade suggest an innovative approach to the characterization of cosmic dust. DuneXpress establishes the next logical step beyond NASA’s Stardust mission, with four major advancements in cosmic dust research: (1) analysis of the elemental and isotopic composition of individual interstellar grains passing through the solar system, (2) determination of the size distribution of interstellar dust at 1 AU from 10^− 14 to 10^− 9 g, (3) characterization of the interstellar dust flow through the planetary system, (4) establish the interrelation of interplanetary dust with comets and asteroids. Additionally, in supporting the dust science objectives, DuneXpress will characterize dust charging in the solar wind and in the Earth’s magnetotail. The science payload consists of two dust telescopes of a total of 0.1 m² sensitive area, three dust cameras totaling 0.4 m² sensitive area, and a nano-dust detector. The dust telescopes measure high-resolution mass spectra of both positive and negative ions released upon impact of dust particles. The dust cameras employ different detection methods and are optimized for (1) large area impact detection and trajectory analysis of submicron sized and larger dust grains, (2) the determination of physical properties, such as flux, mass, speed, and electrical charge. A nano-dust detector searches for nanometer-sized dust particles in interplanetary space. A plasma monitor supports the dust charge measurements, thereby, providing additional information on the dust particles. About 1,000 grains are expected to be recorded by this payload every year, with 20% of these grains providing elemental composition. During the mission submicron to micron-sized interstellar grains are expected to be recorded in statistically significant numbers. DuneXpress will open a new window to dusty universe that will provide unprecedented information on cosmic dust and on the objects from which it is derived.     

Detection of ionospheric perturbation due to a soft gamma ray repeater SGR J1550-5418 by very low frequency radio waves

The properties of cylindrical and spherical dust acoustic (DA) solitary and shock waves in an unmagnetized electron depleted dusty plasma consisting of inertial dust fluid and ions featuring Tsallis statistics are investigated by employing the reductive perturbation technique. A Korteweg-de Vries Burgers (KdVB) equation is derived and its numerical solution is obtained. The effects of ion nonextensivity and dust kinematic viscosity on the basic features of DA solitary and shock waves are discussed in nonplanar geometry. It is found that nonextensive nonplanar DA waves behave quite differently from their one-dimensional planar counterpart.     

Nonplanar dust ion-acoustic solitary and shock excitations in electronegative plasmas with trapped electrons

It is shown that the three-dimensional cylindrical Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (CKP) and the extended cylindrical Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (ECKP) equations can describe the propagation of nonplanar dust ion-acoustic excitations in a dusty plasma composed of positive ions, negative ions, stationary dust particles, as well as trapped electrons or a small percentage of trapped electrons. It is found that the solution of the CKP equation supports only solitary pulses, while the ECKP equation describes the propagation of both solitary and shock excitations. The effects of physical parameters, namely negative ions density, dust grains density, positive-to-negative mass ratio, direction cosine of the wave propagation on the pulses profile are examined. Furthermore, the existence regions of either localized or shock pulses are investigated. The relevance of nonlinear structures in the Earth’s ionosphere and plasma experiment is discussed.