BackForwardInstrument:  ASPOC (MMS) 

Instrument details
Acronym ASPOC (MMS)
Full name Active Spacecraft Potential Control Devices
Purpose To enable measurement of low-energy ions and electrons by the plasma instruments and eliminate spurious electric fields that can contaminate double-probe measurements
Short description Device emitting ions towards space to neutralise the electrical charge acquired by the platform.
Background Part of a package of instruments to implement the SMART (Solving Magnetospheric Acceleration, Reconnection, and Turbulence) mission
Scanning Technique 4 satellites co-flying in tetrehedral pattern, moving to different positions into the Magnetosphere for 3-D field reconstruction
Resolution N/A
Coverage / Cycle Full magnetospheric volume
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2015 to 2023
Last update: 2016-03-20
Detailed characteristics
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Solar and space environment monitors
  • Field or radiowave sensor
WIGOS Subcomponents No WIGOS subcomponents have been defined.
Mission objectives
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Electrostatic charge3 - highNo specific limitation.Platform. Electrostatic charge