HR: 1330h
AN: SH43A-18    [Abstracts]
TI: Solar Wind Compositional Variability and the Need for an Ultra-High Temporal Resolution Mass Spectrometer: Introduction to the Helical Ion Path Spectrometer (HIPS)
AU: * Adrian, M L
EM: Mark.L.Adrian@nasa.gov
AF: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Laboratory for Solar and Space Physics, Mail Code 612.2, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Gallagher, D L
EM: Dennis.L.Gallagher@nasa.gov
AF: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Earth and Space Science Laboratory, XD12, Huntsville, AL 35812 United States
AU: Sheldon, R D
EM: Rob.Sheldon@msfc.nasa.gov
AF: University Space Research Association, National Space Science and Technology Center, Huntsville, AL 35805 United States
AU: Hamilton, D C
EM: dh7@umail.umd.edu
AF: University of Maryland, Department of Physics, College Park, MD 20742 United States
AB: Solar wind composition measurements serve as an indicator of the sub-coronal and coronal processes responsible for the formation of these heliospheric features. While current state-of-the-art instrumentation have identified temporal variations in solar wind/CME composition on the order of 10's of minutes, these detections have occurred during relatively quiescent periods when temporal variations of the collective solar wind (including magnetic field variations) occur over periods in excess of the current minimum instrumental duty cycle of 5-minutes. Consequently, the compositional markers of the microphysics responsible for the formation of highly variable solar wind flows and for CME/prominence formation remain overlooked. The development of a novel ultra-high temporal resolution ion mass spectrometer utilizing a helical ion path time-of-flight (TOF) system within a compact, low-mass, low-power instrument has been undertaken in order to address the need for temporally enhanced solar wind composition measurements. The Helical Ion Path Spectrometer (HIPS) is designed specifically to measure solar wind heavy ion plasma from ³He⁺² ≤ M/q ≤ Fe⁺⁶ and 0.6-20.0 keV/q with an order of magnitude greater geometric factor than current solar wind ion mass spectrometers, and produce 1-10 ms mass spectra with a mass resolution of M/ΔM ~ 200 or greater, all within a duty cycle of ≤ 90-s. The temporal resolution of HIPS is sufficient to probe solar wind and CME spatial/temporal dimensions down to an ion gyroradius in solar wind flow boundaries at 1 AU. We present evidence supporting the need for greater temporal resolution solar wind composition measurement through an overview of solar wind mass spectroscopy results to date, and an introduction to the HIPS mass spectrometer instrument concept.
DE: 7507 Chromosphere
DE: 7513 Coronal mass ejections
DE: 7531 Prominence eruptions
DE: 7537 Solar and stellar variability
DE: 7594 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly