SSPT Program at IRF

Current projects of SSPT

The research of the SSPT group at IRF can be divided into three main areas: instrument development, data analysis and computer modelling.

Instrument development and manufacturing

This is the core activity of the group. We have been internationally recognized for our instrumentation achievements and are determined to maintain our leading position. We are involved in several planetary missions, where our contribution is different types of particle detectors. These detectors measure characteristic properties such as energy, mass and/or distribution of the particles (electrons, ions or energetic neutral atoms (ENAs)).

Information about instruments that have been delivered is best found on the "Satellite projects at IRF-K"-page. The list of successful projects include instruments for the Rosetta, Astrid, Viking and Munin projects as well as ASPERA-3 which is currently delivering data from Mars Express. ASPERA-4, an analyser of ions and energetic neutral atoms, which was part of the scientific payload on Venus Express. SARA which was onboard Chandrayaan-1 to analyse neutral atoms emitted from the surface of the Moon.

Current hardware projects are

MIPA, a miniature ion precipitation analyser, part of the SERENA instrument which will be onboard BepiColombo headed for Mercury.
ICA, an Ion Composition Analyzer, and LAP, a Langmuir probe, onboard Rosetta which will visit a comet called 67P/Churyomov-Gerasimenko.
PEP, a Particle Environment Package, which will be onboard JUICE headed for Jupiter.

Scientific data analysis

By analysis of the data returned by our instruments and those of other groups we address the science questions.

Computer modelling

Computer simulations performed by SSPT are related to the hardware projects and to the scientific goals of the programme. Some examples are simulations of ENA emissions at Mercury, Venus, the moon and Mars, solar wind charge exchange X-ray emissions at Mars, and improved algorithms for global hybrid simulations. Computer simulations are also used to extract as much information as possible from observations.

Most of the projects are financed by the Swedish National Space Board.

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Last update 2016-01-18 15:57
by Moa Persson