Abstract
The Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument on the ESA Solar Orbiter mission is described in this paper. This instrument is designed to measure in-situ magnetic and electric fields and waves from the continuous to a few hundreds of kHz. RPW will also observe solar radio emissions up to 16 MHz. The RPW instrument is of primary importance to the Solar Orbiter mission and science requirements since it is essential to answer three of the four mission overarching science objectives. In addition RPW will exchange on-board data with the other in-situ instruments in order to process algorithms for interplanetary shocks and type III langmuir waves detections.
Highlights
The Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument on the ESA Solar Orbiter mission (Müller et al 2020) is designed to measure magnetic and electric fields, plasma wave spectra and polarization properties, the spacecraft (S/C) floating potential and solar radio emissions in the interplanetary medium.RPW will measure the three-component magnetic field fluctuations from about 10 Hz to a few hundred of kHz to fully characterize magnetized plasma waves in this range
The Main Electronics Box (MEB) consists of the following subsystems: the nominal and redundant Low Voltage Power Supply and Power Distribution Unit (LVPS-PDU), the nominal and redundant Data Processing Unit (DPU), the biasing unit (BIAS), the Low Frequency Receiver, the Time Domain Sampler and the Thermal Noise and High Frequency Receiver (TNR-HFR)
Time Domain Sampler (TDS) includes an interface to the BIAS board and to the three low frequency channels of Search Coil Magnetometer (SCM) which enable TDS to operate as a limited replacement for the Low Frequency Receiver (LFR) board
Summary
The Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument on the ESA Solar Orbiter mission (Müller et al 2020) is designed to measure magnetic and electric fields, plasma wave spectra and polarization properties, the spacecraft (S/C) floating potential and solar radio emissions in the interplanetary medium. RPW will measure the three-component magnetic field fluctuations from about 10 Hz to a few hundred of kHz to fully characterize magnetized plasma waves in this range. RPW will observe solar radio emissions up to 16 MHz and the associated Langmuir waves around the local plasma frequency occasionally. The RPW instrument is of primary importance to the Solar Orbiter mission and science requirements (Müller et al 2020) since it is essential to answer three of the four mission overarching science objectives.
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