Miniature ion mass analyzer

Abstract

The Swedish Institute of Space Physics is developing a miniature plasma analyzer for planetary missions (MIPA—Miniature ion precipitation analyzer). MIPA has been accepted to fly on-board both the ESA BepiColombo mission to Mercury (2014) and the Indian Chandrayaan—1 mission to the Moon (2007). The analyzer measures ions in the energy range 10 eV–15 keV and has a sufficient mass resolution to resolve the main groups of ions, namely M / q = 1 , 2 , 4 , 8 , 16 , > 30 . Field of view is 9 ∘ × 180 ∘ . The instrument consists of the sensor head and a separate electronic board whose total mass is 300 g. The sensor head envelope is roughly 53 × 85 × 30 mm 3 in volume and is designed for the extreme operation temperature range of - 100 to + 125 ∘ C . MIPA comprises an electrostatic scanner for angular resolution, a cylindrical electrostatic analyzer for energy discrimination and a time-of-flight (TOF) section for particle velocity measurement. Generic design allows using the instrument on various platforms including nano-satellite and multi-spacecraft missions. This document describes the design of the sensor part including ion optical as well as mechanical aspects.