BackForwardInstrument:  LEICA 

Instrument details
Acronym LEICA
Full name Low-Energy Ion Composition Analyzer
Purpose To monitor incident ion mass and energy from the Sun and the magnetosphere
Short description Time-of-flight spectrometer to measure solar and magnetospheric ions (He through Ni) arriving from the zenith in twelve energy bands in the range 0.5-5 MeV/nucleon
Background New development
Scanning Technique Interplanetary space observation scanned by field of view of 17° x 21° from a high-inclination drifting LEO
Resolution N/A
Coverage / Cycle Nearly full interplanetary space, daily
Mass 7.4 kg Power 4.9 W Data Rate 1.3 kbps

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 1992 to 2012
Last update: 2022-08-15
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
  • In-situ plasma probes, and energetic particle spectrometers and magnetometers at GEO and LEO, and magnetic field at GEO
  • Heavy ion sensor at LEO
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Alpha particles differential directional flux
  • Heavy ion flux energy and mass spectrum
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
Alpha particles differential directional flux*2 - very highNo specific limitation.Interplanetary space. Low-medium energy range (<10 up to 100 MeV/n)
Heavy ion flux energy and mass spectrum*4 - fairNo specific limitation.Interplanetary space. Low-medium energy range (<10 up to 100 MeV/n)