Plasma Composition Experiment on ISEE-A

The plasma composition experiment on ISEE-A consists of a pair of high-sensitivity (~1 cm2 · sr · eV) high-resolution (M/ΔM ≈ 10 at focus) energetic ion mass spectrometers. They cover the entire mass range from 1 AMU to > 150 AMU in 64 channels at each of 32 energy channels covering the energy per charge range from 0 to approximately 17 keV/e. The objectives of the experiment are to study the ion composition of the ring current, the plasma sheet, the plasmasphere, the magnetosheath, and the solar wind in order to establish the origin of the plasmas in the various regimes of the magnetosphere and to identify mass and charge dependent acceleration, transport, and loss processes.