RPC: The Rosetta Plasma Consortium

Carr, C.; Cupido, E.; Lee, C. G. Y.; Balogh, A.; Beek, T. J.; Burch, J. L.; Dunford, Charlotte; Eriksson, Anders; Gill, Reine; Glaßmeier, Karl‐Heinz; Goldstein, R.; Lagoutte, D.; Lundin, R.; Lundin, Kersti; Lybekk, B.; Mīchau, J. L.; Musmann, G.; Nilsson, Hans; Pollock, C. J.; Richter, Ingo; Trotignon, Jean-Gabriel

doi:10.1007/s11214-006-9136-4

Cited by 151 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(5 reference statements)

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“…One of the main RPC objectives is to study the temporal evolution of the boundaries formed as a result of solar wind interaction with the coma (Carr et al 2007). This topic includes the development, structure and dynamics of interaction regions such as the diamagnetic cavity and the region between the bow shock and the contact surface.…”

Section: The Rosetta Plasma Consortiummentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, Rosetta is traveling at very low velocities with respect to the comet, compared to previous mission flybys (see summary in Table 1) providing a very different perspective from which to observe plasma interaction. One of the primary goals of the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC; Carr et al 2007) is to observe the formation and evolution of the plasma interaction regions and the boundaries between them over the time of the mission. Rosetta arrived at 67P/CG in 2014 August and the RPC suite of instruments has been making observations of the plasma environment since that time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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RPC observation of the development and evolution of plasma interaction boundaries at 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Mandt

Eriksson

Edberg

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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One of the primary objectives of the Rosetta Plasma Consortium, a suite of five plasma instruments on-board the Rosetta spacecraft, is to observe the formation and evolution of plasma interaction regions at the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/CG). Observations made between 2015 April and 2016 February show that solar wind-cometary plasma interaction boundaries and regions formed around 2015 mid-April and lasted through early 2016 January. At least two regions were observed, separated by an ion-neutral collisionopause boundary. The inner region was located on the nucleus side of the boundary and was characterized by low-energy water-group ions, reduced magnetic field pileup and enhanced electron densities. The outer region was located outside of the boundary and was characterized by reduced electron densities, water-group ions that are accelerated to energies above 100 eV and enhanced magnetic field pileup compared to the inner region. The boundary discussed here is outside of the diamagnetic cavity and shows characteristics similar to observations made on-board the Giotto spacecraft in the ion pileup region at 1P/Halley. We find that the boundary is likely to be related to ion-neutral collisions and that its location is influenced by variability in the neutral density and the solar wind dynamic pressure.

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Section: The Rosetta Plasma Consortiummentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RPC observation of the development and evolution of plasma interaction boundaries at 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Mandt

Eriksson

Edberg

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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“…The Rosetta spacecraft [Glassmeier et al, 2007] carries a suite of five instruments, forming the Rosetta plasma consortium (RPC) [Carr et al, 2007], to measure the plasma properties as well as electric and magnetic fields around comet 67P. Of particular interest here is the Langmuir probe instrument (LAP) [Eriksson et al, 2007] and the mutual impedance probe (MIP) [Trotignon et al, 2007].…”

Section: Instruments and Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial distribution of low‐energy plasma around comet 67P/CG from Rosetta measurements

Edberg

Eriksson

Odelstad

et al. 2015

Geophysical Research Letters

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We use measurements from the Rosetta plasma consortium Langmuir probe and mutual impedance probe to study the spatial distribution of low‐energy plasma in the near‐nucleus coma of comet 67P/Churyumov‐Gerasimenko. The spatial distribution is highly structured with the highest density in the summer hemisphere and above the region connecting the two main lobes of the comet, i.e., the neck region. There is a clear correlation with the neutral density and the plasma to neutral density ratio is found to be ∼1–2·10−6, at a cometocentric distance of 10 km and at 3.1 AU from the Sun. A clear 6.2 h modulation of the plasma is seen as the neck is exposed twice per rotation. The electron density of the collisionless plasma within 260 km from the nucleus falls off with radial distance as ∼1/r. The spatial structure indicates that local ionization of neutral gas is the dominant source of low‐energy plasma around the comet.

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“…Rosetta is equipped with a suite of five plasma instruments out of which three are used in this study: the Langmuir probe (LAP) , the fluxgate magnetometer (MAG) (Glassmeier et al, 2007b) and the electrostatic ion and electron sensor (IES) , all interfacing to the spacecraft through the plasma interface unit (PIU) (Carr et al, 2007). The Rosetta LAP instrument measured probe to spacecraft potential during the Mars flyby from the one probe out of two that was located in sunlight upstream of the spacecraft.…”

Section: Mars Express and Rosetta Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rosetta and Mars Express observations of the influence of high solar wind pressure on the Martian plasma environment

et al. 2009

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Abstract. We report on new simultaneous in-situ observations at Mars from Rosetta and Mars Express (MEX) on how the Martian plasma environment is affected by high pressure solar wind. A significant sharp increase in solar wind density, magnetic field strength and turbulence followed by a gradual increase in solar wind velocity is observed during ∼24 h in the combined data set from both spacecraft after Rosetta's closest approach to Mars on 25 February 2007. The bow shock and magnetic pileup boundary are coincidently observed by MEX to become asymmetric in their shapes. The fortunate orbit of MEX at this time allows a study of the inbound boundary crossings on one side of the planet and the outbound crossings on almost the opposite side, both very close to the terminator plane. The solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) downstream of Mars are monitored through simultaneous measurements provided by Rosetta. Possible explanations for the asymmetries are discussed, such as crustal magnetic fields and IMF direction. In the same interval, during the high solar wind pressure pulse, MEX observations show an increased amount of escaping planetary ions from the polar region of Mars. We link the high pressure solar wind with the observed simultaneous ionCorrespondence to: N. J. T. Edberg (ne@irfu.se) outflow and discuss how the pressure pulse could also be associated with the observed boundary shape asymmetry.

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RPC: The Rosetta Plasma Consortium

Cited by 151 publications

References 14 publications

RPC observation of the development and evolution of plasma interaction boundaries at 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

RPC observation of the development and evolution of plasma interaction boundaries at 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Spatial distribution of low‐energy plasma around comet 67P/CG from Rosetta measurements

Rosetta and Mars Express observations of the influence of high solar wind pressure on the Martian plasma environment

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