BackForwardInstrument:  SWEPAM 

Instrument details
Acronym SWEPAM
Full name Solar Wind Electron, Proton, and Alpha Monitor
Purpose To measure electron and ion fluxes in the low energy solar wind range
Short description Simultaneous and independent electron and ion spectroscopy with two separate sensors. Energy ranges: electrons 0.0016-1.35 keV; protons: 0.26-36 keV; alpha-particles: 0.52-72 keV
Background Part of a package of instruments for solar observation
Scanning Technique Sun pointing from the L1 Lagrange libration point
Resolution N/A (full disk)
Coverage / Cycle Full solar disk, nearly continuous
Mass 6.7 kg Power 6.4 W Data Rate 1 kbps

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 1997 to 2027
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, low energy (up to 40 keV)
Proton differential directional flux4 - fairNo specific limitation.Sun pointing, low energy (up to 40 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