The Time-of-Flight Energy, Angle, Mass Spectrograph (Teams) Experiment for Fast

AbstractThe Time-of-flight Energy Angle Mass Spectrograph (TEAMS) is being flown on the FAST Small Explorer mission to measure the 3-dimensional distribution function of the major ion species present in the lower magnetosphere. The instrument is similar to time-of-flight plasma analyzer systems that have been designed and planned for flight as CODIF (COmposition and DIstribution Function analyzer) on the four European Space Agency Cluster-II spacecraft and, as ESIC (Equator-S Ion Composition instrument) on Equator-S. This instrument allows the 3-dimensional distribution functions of individual ion species to be determined within $$\frac{1}{2}$$ spin period (2.5 s). Two-dimensional distributions are measured in 80 ms. These capabilities are crucial for the study of selective energization processes in the auroral regions of the magnetosphere. The design, operational characteristics, and test and calibration results for this instrument are presented. The sensor consists of a toroidal top-hat electrostatic analyzer with instantaneous acceptance of ions over 360° in polar angle. After post-acceleration of the incoming ions by up to 25 kV, a time-of-flight mass spectrograph discriminates the individual species. It has been demonstrated through calibration that the instrument can easily separate H+, He2+, He+, O+ and, for energies after post-acceleration of > 20 keV, even O2+ molecules. On-board mass discrimination and the internal accumulation of several distinct data quantities combined with the spacecraft's flexible telemetry formatting allow for instrument data rates from 7.8 kb s−1 to 315 kb s−1 to be telemetered to ground through the FAST centralized Instrument Data Processor.

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