BackForwardInstrument:  COSTEP 

Instrument details
Acronym COSTEP
Full name Suprathermal & Energetic Particle Analyzer
Purpose Observation of energetic particles in the solar wind
Short description Particle counters and analysers in the range of energy 0.044-8.7 MeV (electrons), 0.044-53 MeV (protons) and 16-212 MeV (alpha-particles)
Background Part of a package of instruments to observe the solar atmosphere
Scanning Technique Sun pointing from the L1 Lagrange libration point
Resolution N/A (full disk)
Coverage / Cycle Full solar disk, nearly continuous
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency DLR
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 1996 to 2025
Last update: 2021-11-10
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
  • Energetic particle spectrometer
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • Solar wind in situ plasma and energetic particles, magnetic field, at L1
  • Solar wind at L1 - Electron sensor
  • Solar wind at L1 - Proton sensor
  • Solar wind at L1 - Alpha-particle sensor
  • Solar wind at L1 - Plasma density sensor
  • Solar wind at L1 - Plasma temperature sensor
  • Solar wind at L1 - Plasma velocity sensor
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Solar wind density
  • Solar wind temperature
  • Solar wind velocity
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
Electron differential directional flux4 - fairNo specific limitation.Sun pointing, medium and high energy (over 40 to over 400 keV)
Proton differential directional flux4 - fairNo specific limitation.Sun pointing, medium and high energy (over 40 to over 1000 keV)
Alpha particles differential directional flux1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Sun-pointing. Low-medium energy range (<10 up to 100 MeV/n)
Solar wind density*1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Solar viewing. Infrerred from Proton. Electron and Alpha-particle spectroscopy
Solar wind temperature*1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Solar viewing. Infrerred from Proton. Electron and Alpha-particle spectroscopy
Solar wind velocity*1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Solar viewing. Infrerred from Proton. Electron and Alpha-particle spectroscopy