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Abstract:
The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) is contributing among other instruments to the plasma packages of the up-coming missions JUICE to Jupiter and BepiColombo to Mercury. JUICE will carry the Particle Environment Package (PEP) of six different sensors with the MPS contribution JEI (Jovian Electron and Ion Sensor). Upon its arrival at Jupiter in 2030, JEI is designed to characterize the plasma parameters of the Jovian magnetosphere and the plasma interaction with the Galilean moons. It is an electrostatic analyzer and covers an energy range of 1eV to 40keV for electrons and ions respectively at 10% resolution. The field of view is almost one hemisphere at 22.5° resolution. The measurements will allow determining temporally and spatially resolved distributions of charged particles. BepiColombo consists of two spacecraft (Mercury Planetary Orbiter MPO and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter MMO, now called MIO), targeted to launch in October 2018. MPO will carry the particle instrument suite SERENA (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances) consisting of four sensors where MPS contributed hardware to the Planetary Ion Camera PICAM. This sensor is an ion imager with 2Ï€ field of view. It has an energy range of 1eV to 3keV at an energy resolution of up to 10% and a time-of-flight analyzer with a m/δm ratio of about 100. PICAM will contribute to the analysis of the magnetic field configuration of Mercury and its interaction with the solar wind. In addition, MPS is also involved in the Mass Spectrum Analyzer MSA, one out of six sensors of the particle instrument MPPE (Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment) onboard MIO. In this paper we concentrate on JEI and PICAM only. For the ongoing calibration of the instruments JEI and PICAM, the existing ion and electron source at MPS has been upgraded. An increased beam quality and automatized measurement procedure allows a detailed characterization for both polar angles, accelerator voltages and instrument operation modes. In course of the measurement, cross talk, angular and energy resolution as well as the ion grid optics have been mapped. © 2018 International Astronautical Federation, IAF. All rights reserved.
