WINCS on-orbit performance results

Andrew C. Nicholas; Fred A. Herrero; Andrew W. Stephan; Theodore Finne

doi:10.1117/12.2188403

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21 September 2015 WINCS on-orbit performance results

Andrew C. Nicholas, Fred A. Herrero, Andrew W. Stephan, Theodore Finne

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Proceedings Volume 9604, Solar Physics and Space Weather Instrumentation VI; 960404 (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2188403
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2015, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The Winds-Ions-Neutral Composition Suite (WINCS) instrument, also known as the Small Wind and Temperature Spectrometer (SWATS), was designed and developed jointly by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for ionosphere-thermosphere investigations in orbit between 120 and 550 km altitude. The WINCS instrument houses four spectrometers in a single package with size, weight, and power compatible with a CubeSat. These spectrometers provide the following measurements: neutral winds, neutral temperature, neutral density, neutral composition, ion drifts, ion temperature, ion density and ion composition. The instrument is currently operating on the International Space Station and on the STP-Sat3 spacecraft. Data from the Ion-Drift Temperature-Spectrometer (IDTS) are used to compute the ion drift, temperature, and density in the presence of large changes in spacecraft potential. A summary is given of future flight manifests.

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Andrew C. Nicholas, Fred A. Herrero, Andrew W. Stephan, and Theodore Finne "WINCS on-orbit performance results", Proc. SPIE 9604, Solar Physics and Space Weather Instrumentation VI, 960404 (21 September 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2188403

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