First results from the plasma composition spectrometer PROMICS-3 in the Interball projectI. Sandahl1, S. Barabash1, H. Borg1, E. Yu. Budnik2, E. M. Dubinin2, U. Eklund1, H. Johansson1, H. Koskinen3, K. Lundin1, R. Lundin1, A. Moström1, R. Pellinen3, N. F. Pissarenko2, T. Pulkkinen3, P. Toivanen3, and A. V. Zakharov21Swedish Institute of Space Physics, PO Box 812, S-981 28, Kiruna, Sweden
2Space Research Institute, Profsoyuznaya 84/32, 117 810 Moscow GSP-7, Russia
3Finnish Meteorological Institute, PO Box 503, SF 00 101 Helsinki, Finland
Abstract. PROMICS-3 is a plasma experiment flown in the
Russian project Interball. It performs three-dimensional (3D) measurements of
ions in the energy range 4 eV–70 keV with mass separation and of electrons in
the energy range 12 eV–35 keV. The Interball project consists of two main
satellites, the Tail Probe and the Auroral Probe, each with one subsatellite.
The Interball Tail Probe was launched on 3 August 1995, into a 65° inclination
orbit with apogee at about 30 RE. Both main satellites carry
identical PROMICS-3 instruments and thus direct comparisons of the particle
distributions will be possible once the Auroral Probe is launched. Furthermore,
PROMICS-3-Tail is the first instrument measuring the 3D ion distribution
function in the magnetospheric boundary layers at high latitudes. In this paper
we describe the PROMICS-3 instrument and show initial results from the Tail
probe, measurements of the magnetosheath, plasma sheet, and ring current
plasmas.
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Citation: Sandahl, I., Barabash, S., Borg, H., Budnik, E. Yu., Dubinin, E. M., Eklund, U., Johansson, H., Koskinen, H., Lundin, K., Lundin, R., Moström, A., Pellinen, R., Pissarenko, N. F., Pulkkinen, T., Toivanen, P., and Zakharov, A. V.: First results from the plasma composition spectrometer PROMICS-3 in the Interball project, Ann. Geophys., 15, 542-552, 1997. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager