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 mm³ 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.