WMO OSCAR | Details for Instrument ESA

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Instrument: ESA

Instrument details

Acronym	ESA
Full name	Electrostatic Analyzer
Purpose	To measure thermal electrons and ions to identify and track high-speed flows through the magnetotail and identify pressure pulse
Short description	Measures the number of electrons and ions with a specified energy from a certain direction at a given time (the particle distribution function) over the energy range 0.003-30 keV (electrons) and 0.003-30 keV/n (ions with Z from 1 to 8)
Background	Part of a package of instruments to study the Magnetosphere
Scanning Technique	5 satellites moving to different positions into the Magnetosphere for 3-D field reconstruction
Resolution	N/A
Coverage / Cycle	Full magnetospheric volume
Mass	3 kg	Power	1.7 W	Data Rate

Providing Agency	NASA
Instrument Maturity	Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period:	2007 to 2022
Last update:	2021-12-16

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

Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (NASA)
- THEMIS-D (see instrument status) Feb 2007 - 2022
- THEMIS-A (see instrument status) Feb 2007 - 2022
- THEMIS-E (see instrument status) Feb 2007 - 2022
Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun (NASA)
- ARTEMIS-P1 (see instrument status) Jul 2011 - 2022
- ARTEMIS-P2 (see instrument status) Jul 2011 - 2022

Instrument classification

Solar and space environment monitors
Energetic particle spectrometer

WIGOS Subcomponents

Subcomponent 2
Magnetospheric energetic particles and magnetometers
Electron sensor [cross magnetosphere]
Proton sensor [cross magnetosphere]
Alpha-particle sensor [cross magnetosphere]
Heavy ion sensor [cross magnetosphere]
Subcomponent 3
Neutral and Ion Mass Spectrometer
Heavy ions mass spectrometer [from LEO and HEO]

Mission objectives

Primary mission objectives

Alpha particles differential directional flux
Electron differential directional flux
Heavy ion flux energy and mass spectrum
Proton differential directional flux

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.

Variable	Relevance for measuring this variable	Operational limitations	Explanation
Electron differential directional flux*	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	Cluster flown through the magnetosphere, low energy (up to 40 keV)
Proton differential directional flux*	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	Cluster flown through the magnetosphere, low energy (up to 40 keV)
Alpha particles differential directional flux*	3 - high	No specific limitation.	Cross-magnetosphere satellite cluster. Low-medium energy range (<10 up to 100 MeV/n)
Heavy ion flux energy and mass spectrum*	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	Cross-magnetosphere satellite cluster. Low-medium energy range (<10 up to 100 MeV/n)